title: Sudden cardiac death in football.
abstract: Football is the most popular sport worldwide and includes the largest population of sports participants, especially in the field of recreational sport. It remains controversial whether football represents a sport discipline with a particular high risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD). The true incidence of SCD among football players is not known due to a lack of football-specific studies. In particular, recreational football players over an age of 35 years with a predominance of coronary artery disease (CAD) who do not exercise regularly are exposed to a higher risk of SCD. Surprisingly, the few European studies that included football as a sport discipline, showed that CAD already plays an important role in the young athlete. Potential pathophysiological mechanisms in football that may lead to a higher risk of SCD include the high release of catecholamines, increased platelet aggregation, dehydration and electrolyte disturbances. Establishment of sport-specific and national registers for SCD should certainly contribute to a better understanding of this highly important topic.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Sports and Preventive Medicine, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany. p.bohm@mx.uni-saarland.de
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bohm
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kästner
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Meyer
mesh_terms: D003324:Coronary Artery Disease; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005538:Football; D006801:Humans; D010809:Physical Fitness; D012916:Soccer / Q000502:physiology*