Prevalence of Cardiovascular Disorders Among Iranian Elite Athletes.
BACKGROUND
Athletes' health is an important issue and for promoting it, pre-participation examination (PPE) is widely performed by responsible bodies around the world.


OBJECTIVE
This study was to determine prevalence of cardiovascular disorders among athletes participating in the Asian games and answering the question whether the electrocardiogram (ECG) is a necessary part of pre-participation examination (PPE) for prevention of sudden cardiac death.


METHODS
All athletes participated at Asian games came to sports medicine federation for a PPE including a comprehensive questionnaire, physical examination and ECG. In this retrospective study all profiles of 338 athletes have been studied as well as their electrocardiograms. Multiple logistic regressions as well as Firth's bias reduction were used with R statistical software and SPSS. For predicting the changes in ECG, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve has done.


RESULTS
Among 388 athletes, 80 (20.6%) were female and 308 (79.4%) male with mean age of 23.2 + 8 years. Nine athletes (2.3%) were smokers, 28 of them (7.2%) experienced chest pain and discomfort, 45 of them (13.3%) had palpitations and 28 (7.2%) had history of anemia. Study of their electrocardiograms showed that long Q-T interval was not seen for anyone, but evidence of left ventricular hypertrophy was seen in 12 (3.1%), inverted T wave in 6 (1.5%), and right bundle branch block in 45 (13.3%).


CONCLUSIONS
PPE provides very important information of athletes' health. This study has shown that there was not any significant relation between current examination and electrocardiogram changes but regarding the ECG changes we recommend it as a routine part of PPE.
Imam Hossein Medical and Educational Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
Shahin
S
Salehi
Physical Education Department, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, IR Iran; Iran Sports Medicine Federation, Tehran, IR Iran.
Farhad
F
Moradi Shahpar
Iran Sports Medicine Federation, Tehran, IR Iran.
Gholamreza
G
Norouzi
Department of Physical Education, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, IR Iran.
Farshad
F
Ghazalian
Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
Mehrshad
M
Poursaid Esfehani
Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IR Iran.
Amir Hosein
AH
Abedi Yekta
Electrocardiogram; Prevention; Sudden Cardiac Death