German authorities are reporting a recent surge in young athletes suffering from sudden heart-related health problems.
Officials in Germany say they are “puzzled” by “an unusually large” number of young and healthy soccer players that are collapsing.
Accoridng to German media reports, the sports stars are being struck down with heart conditions and suffering cardiac arrests.
Per German outlet The Berliner Zeitung (as translated by Google):
Puzzling heart diseases in football
An unusually large number of professional and amateur soccer players have collapsed recently.
11/9/2021 – 6:13 a.m.
Berlin – The professional player Sergio Agüero from FC Barcelona will be out for at least three months. The 33-year-old was substituted for the game against Deportivo Alavés with breathing problems. He was holding his chest and was admitted to a hospital. He is now being treated by a cardiologist for heart problems. At the European Championship, the player Christian Eriksen collapsed in front of the cameras. Diagnosis: cardiac arrest. Eriksen survived. The two professionals are just two examples of many footballers who struggle with heart problems, some of which are life-threatening.
Emergency situations have come up again and again in the last few weeks and months, according to the report:
- Game abandoned due to cardiac arrest of the referee in a game of Lauber SV (Donauwörth district)
- A 17-year-old football player from JSG Hoher Hagen has to be reanimated in Hannoversch Münden during the game.
- The Gifhorn amateur player Marvin Schumann has to be reanimated after a cardiac arrest.
- An assistant referee of a Kreisliga Augsburg game in Emersacker collapses with heart problems.
- A district league player of the SpVgg. Oelde II has to be revived by his opponent.
- A player from the Birati Club Münster collapses in a regional league game against FC Nordkirchen II.
- 17-year-old soccer player Dylan Rich dies of a heart attack during a game in England .
- The goalkeeping coach of SV Niederpöring suffers a heart attack after a training session.
- Lucas Surek (24) of the BFC Chemie Leipzig club is out because of a suspected heart muscle disorder .
- Kingsley Coman (25) from FC Bayern Munich has to undergo heart surgery after a cardiac arrhythmia .
- Trainer Dirk Splitsteser from SG Traktor Divitz collapses dead on the sidelines .
- Rune Coghe (18) of the Belgian club Eendracht Hoglede (Belgium) suffers a heart attack during a game.
- At the World Cup qualification match for women between Germany and Serbia in Chemnitz, an English line judge with heart problems has to be carried off the pitch.
- Team leader Dietmar Gladow from Thalheim (Bitterfeld) suffers a fatal heart attack before a game .
- The 53-year-old football coach Antonello Campus collapses while training with his youth team in Sicily .
- Anil Usta from VfB Schwelm (Ennepetal) collapses on the field with heart problems .
- Dimitri Liénard from FC Strasbourg collapses with heart problems in a Ligue 1 game .
- Diego Ferchaud (16) from ASPTT Caen suffers cardiac arrest in a U-18 league game in Saint-Lô .
- Belgian football player Jente Van Genechten (25) suffers cardiac arrest in the early stages of a cup game.
- The Belgian amateur soccer player Jens De Smet (27) from Maldegem suddenly suffers a heart attack during the game and dies a little later in the hospital.
- A 13-year-old soccer player from the Janus Nova club from Saccolongo (Italy) collapses on the field with cardiac arrest.
- Andrea Astolfi, the sports director of Calcio Orsago (Italy), suffers a heart attack after returning from training. He dies at the age of 45.
- Abou Ali (22) collapses with cardiac arrest during a two-tier game in Denmark .
- Fabrice N’Sakala (31) from Besiktas Istanbul collapses on the field without interference from the opponent and has to be taken to the hospital.
The German Heart Foundation says: “Depending on the study, there are between 0.7 and 3.0 deaths per year for every 100,000 people involved in sports.” According to the experts, men are more often affected than women: “According to data from the German registry on sudden cardiac death Sport (Sudden Cardiac Death Register, SCD Germany), 96% of the athletes affected are men ”, according to the foundation. As for the causes, it is said that sudden cardiac death during exercise has “different triggers”.
Causes differ depending on the age of those affected
The causes differ depending on the age of the person affected. “In people under the age of 35, diseases of the heart muscle, the heart valves, the main artery (aorta) and the coronary arteries are possible triggers. Changes in the genetic material can, for example, lead to thickening of the muscles in the left ventricle (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy). Diseases, especially those affecting the right ventricle (arrhythmogenic (right ventricular) cardiomyopathy) can also be the cause of sudden cardiac death, ”says the Heart Foundation.
In people over 35, however, at around 80 percent, “coronary artery disease is the most common cause of sudden cardiac death. Coronary arteries are narrowing more and more due to deposits (plaques) of cholesterol, connective tissue and calcium. If these plaques tear, blood clots sometimes develop and the blood vessel is completely closed. ”The result is a heart attack, which“ can be associated with life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias ”.
Irrespective of age, heart muscle inflammation (myocarditis) is another risk factor. “It can already occur in the course of banal virus infections, even without causing symptoms,” says the German Heart Foundation. And further: “These inflammatory changes can lead to life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias.”
What could possibly be behind this sudden spike in heart disease among young, healthy athletes?
As Slay News previously reported, some researchers are claiming that “cold weather” may be a cause of blood clots and heart attacks among younger adults.
READ MORE – Researchers Warn Cold Weather Causes Blood Clots and Heart Attacks
