COVID-19 study of professional athletes finds few serious cardiac abnormalities

Encouraging news emerged from a COVID-19 cardiac study of professional athletes published in "JAMA Cardiology" on Thursday.

Of the 789 professional athletes from the NBA, WNBA, NFL, NHL, MLB and MLS who tested positive for coronavirus and underwent cardiac screening, just 30 were sent for additional testing and just five were diagnosed with inflammatory heart disease – three with myocarditis and two with pericarditis, according to the study.

As a precaution, the major North American pro sports leagues implemented cardiac screening as part of the return to play protocols for athletes who had the virus.

“What it showed us is that the prevalence of heart-related injury related to COVID-19is low. That’s very reassuring,” said first author of the study Dr. Matthew Martinez, the director of Atlantic Health System Sports Cardiology at Morristown Medical Center.

Myocarditis is inflammation of the heart muscle that can lead to serious issues, including death. Studies early in the pandemic showed a high prevalence of cardiac abnormalities in COVID-19 in hospitalized, and pericarditis is swelling and irritation of thin tissue around the heart, according to the Mayo Clinic.

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