Soccer and Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Competitive Athletes: A Review

Table 1

Studies reporting SCD in soccer.

Author	Design	Subjects	Most common sport	Cardiovascular disease found
Corrado et al. [1]	Prospective	23/300 athletes, ages 12–35	(1) Soccer; (2) Swimming	(1) CAD^a; (2) ARVC
de Noronha et al. [6]	Prospective	118 cases, mean age 28	(1) Soccer; (2) Running	(1) Isolated LVH^b; (2) Normal heart; (3) ARVC
Maron et al. [3]	Retrospective	60 international athletes (ages 19 ± 3) and 213 US Athletes (ages 14 ± 9 years)	Soccer	Commotio Cordis
Maron et al. [2]	Retrospective	1866 athletes (ages 16 ± 4)	(1) Basketball; (2) Football; (3) Soccer	(1) HCM^b; (2) CCA
Bille et al. [4]	Retrospective	388 athletes	(1) Soccer; (2) Running; (3) Basketball	(1) HCM^b; (2) CCA
Allouche et al. [7]	Retrospective	32 athletes	(1) Running; (2) Soccer	(1) HCM^b; (2) ARVC
Suárez-Mier and Aguilera [8]	Retrospective	61 athletes, mean ages 31.9 ± 14	(1) Cycling; (2) Soccer	(1) ARVC^c; (2) Isolated LVH
McConnell and Collins [9]	Case study	24 y.o. female	Soccer	Hypoplastic left coronary artery
Chen and Sheppard [10]	Case study	22 y.o. male	Soccer	Ebstein anomaly due to hemangioma
Zeller et al. [11]	Case study	26 y.o. male	Soccer	Marked early repolarization on ECG two weeks prior to SCD; autopsy was normal
Pellissier et al. [12]	Case study	15 y.o. male	Soccer	Left coronary artery arising from the right anterior sinus with an oblique course between the aorta and the pulmonary artery trunk
Pacchioni et al. [13]	Case study	18 y.o. male	Soccer	ARVC
Ronneberger et al. [14]	Case study	8 y.o. male	Soccer	Myxomatous mitral valve with lacerations of the posterior cusp and the left vestibular endocardium and left ventricular hypertrophy
Ottaviani et al. [15]	Case study	13 y.o. male	Soccer	Abnormal origin of left coronary artery from the right aortic sinus of Valsalva
Iskandar and Thompson [16]	Case study	14 y.o male	Soccer	Acute angle takeoff of the left main coronary artery and a transverse slit-like opening with a fibrous cushion, which created a kink near its origin
Meel [17]	Case study	22 y.o. male	Soccer	Abnormal origin of the left coronary artery from the right sinus of Valsalva

^aThese results are for the most common causes of SCD for all sports, not just soccer. Also, coronary artery disease (CAD) refers to both congenital and atherosclerotic disease. While soccer was the most common sport associated with SCD this finding was not statistically significant when compared with other sports, nor was any other sport associated with a specific form of fatal cardiovascular disease [1].
^bThese results are for the most common causes of SCD for all sports, not just soccer [2, 4, 6, 7].
^cThese results are based on all sports in a subset of cases under the age of 30. However, the most common cause of death overall for patients of all ages in this study was CAD. In the cases SCD associated with soccer in subjects under 30, there was no predominant cause, but the causes were 3 LVH, 1 Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM), 1 CCA, and 3 undetermined [8].