Cardiovascular Adaptation in Athletes

Millions of athletes train for and participate in competitive athletics each year. Many of these athletes will present to a cardiovascular specialist with signs or symptoms that might indicate heart disease and these athletes/patients will ask for advice on their ability to continue to train and compete safely. By virtue of their training, athletes׳ hearts may undergo significant structural and electrical change, presenting a special challenge for the cardiovascular specialist. It is important to understand normal adaptive changes in order to separate normal physiology from pathology

Preferred Gender Pronouns: A He/He/He Perspective

While this is a serious and important sociocultural issue that warrants further discussion, I will leave that task to the true scholars amongst us. As for me, a lifelong punster and logophile, I can not resist the temptation to play around with the way PGP\u27s sound when read aloud. This experimentation led me to create a list of celebrities, character and miscellaneous classifications of people, paired wit the PGP\u27s that would be appropriate for them

Medical encounters at community-based physical activity events (parkrun) in the UK

Objective: To determine the incidence, clinical correlates and exposure risk of medical encounters during community-based physical activity events in the UK. // Methods: An analysis of medical data from weekly, community-based physical activity events (parkrun) at 702 UK locations over a 6-year period (29 476 294 participations between 2014 and 2019) was conducted in order to define the incidence and clinical correlates of serious life-threatening, non-life-threatening and fatal medical encounters. // Results: 84 serious life-threatening encounters (overall incidence rate=0.26/100 000 participations) occurred including 18 fatalities (0.056/100 000 participations). Statistical modelling revealed that the probabilities of serious life-threatening encounters were exceptionally low, however, male sex, increasing age, slower personal best parkrun time and less prior running engagement/experience (average number of runs per year and number of years as a parkrun participant) were associated with increased probability of serious life-threatening encounters. These were largely accounted for by cardiac arrest (48/84, 57%) and acute coronary syndromes (20/84, 24%). Non-life-threatening medical encounters were mainly attributed to tripping or falling, with a reported incidence of 39.2/100 000 participations. // Conclusions: Serious life-threatening and fatal medical encounters associated with parkrun participation are extremely rare. In the context of a global public health crisis due to inactivity, this finding underscores the safety and corollary public health value of community running/walking events as a strategy to promote physical activity

Interassociation Consensus Statement on Cardiovascular Care of College Student-Athletes

Cardiovascular evaluation and care of college student-athletes is gaining increasing attention from both the public and medical communities. Emerging strategies include screening of the general athlete population, recommendations of permissible levels of participation by athletes with identified cardiovascular conditions, and preparation for responding to unanticipated cardiac events in athletic venues. The primary focus has been sudden cardiac death and the utility of screening with or without advanced cardiac screening. The National Collegiate Athletic Association convened a multidisciplinary task force to address cardiovascular concerns in collegiate student-athletes and to develop consensus for an interassociation statement. This document summarizes the task force deliberations and follow-up discussions, and includes available evidence on cardiovascular risk, pre-participation evaluation, and the recognition of and response to cardiac arrest. Future recommendations for cardiac research initiatives, education, and collaboration are also provided