title: Characteristics and outcomes of sudden cardiac arrest during sports in women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  No specific data are available on characteristics and outcome of sudden cardiac death (SCD) during sport activities among women in the general population.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From a prospective 5-year national survey, involving 820 subjects 10 to 75 years old who presented with SCD (resuscitated or not) during competitive or recreational sport activities, 43 (5.2%) such events occurred in women, principally during jogging, cycling, and swimming. The level of activity at the time of SCD was moderate to vigorous in 35 cases (81.4%). The overall incidence of sport-related SCD, among 15- to 75-year-old women, was estimated as 0.59 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.39-0.79) to 2.17 (95% CI, 1.38-2.96) per year per million female sports participants for the 80th and 20th percentiles of reporting districts, respectively. Compared with men, the incidence of SCDs in women was dramatically lower, particularly in the 45- to 54-year range (relative risk, 0.033; 95% CI, 0.015-0.075). Despite similar circumstances of occurrence, survival at hospital admission (46.5%; 95% CI, 31.0-60.0) was significantly higher than that for men (30.0%; 95% CI, 26.8-33.2; P=0.02), although this did not reach statistical significance for hospital discharge. Favorable neurological outcomes were similar (80%). Cause of death seemed less likely to be associated with structural heart disease in women compared with men (58.3% versus 95.8%; P=0.003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sports-related SCDs in women participants seems dramatically less common (up to 30-fold less frequent) compared with men. Our results also suggest a higher likelihood of successful resuscitation as well as less frequency of structural heart disease in women compared with men.
authors.affiliation: Paris Cardiovascular Research Center, Inserm Unit 970, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Eloi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marijon
authors.forename: Wulfran
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bougouin
authors.forename: David S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Celermajer
authors.forename: Marie-Cécile
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Périer
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dumas
authors.forename: Nordine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Benameur
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Karam
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lamhaut
authors.forename: Muriel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tafflet
authors.forename: Hazrije
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mustafic
authors.forename: Natalia Machado
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: de Deus
authors.forename: Jean-Yves
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Le Heuzey
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Desnos
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Avillach
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Spaulding
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cariou
authors.forename: Christof
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Prugger
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Empana
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jouven
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001642:Bicycling; D002648:Child; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012042:Registries; D012420:Running; D013177:Sports; D013550:Swimming; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: cardiopulmonary resuscitation; death, sudden; exercise; incidence; sex; survival; ventricular fibrillation