Abstract des Autors

Is has been estimated that there are approximately 100 cases of sudden death during exertion in athletes per year in the US. With 25 million participants in competitive sports in the US, this corresponds to roughly 4 deaths per million athletes per year. In this article the definition of athlete adopted by the 16th Bethesda Conference will be used, which characterises the competitive athlete 'as one who participates in an organised team or individual sport that requires regular competition against others as a central component, places a high premium on excellence and achievement and requires vigorous training in a systematic fashion'. The purpose of this paper is to review the causes of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in athletes and to discuss strategies to identify athletes at risk. Most reviews of athletes dying suddenly are retrospective studies of selected cases and are not population-based. Therefore, the incidence of the various causes of sudden death in athletes is unknown. Furthermore, the incidence of sudden death of women during competition or training has received little or no systematic study. Verf.-Referat