the vast majority of American youth who
died suddenly while playing sports are
middle school-aged children who
experience a cardiac event researchers
with the National Athletic Trainers
Association examined 45 sudden sports
deaths that occurred between 2007 and
2015 among children ages 6 to 17 sudden
cardiac events caused 76 percent of
deaths most of the victims no matter the
cause were between the ages of 12 and 14
the most sudden youth sports deaths 36%
came on the basketball court baseball
and football
each accounted for another 16 percent
while soccer accounted for another 13%
dr. Robert Kim is an electrophysiologist
in an afib expert with the Oishi Heart
and Vascular Center hey welcome to the
show thank you a lot of parents right
now mindful of the fact that school
starts in about six weeks and they're
thinking about getting sports physicals
for their kids when they go back to
school and go to the basketball court
the soccer court whatever they are going
to play what are some of the signs and
symptoms that their child may be at risk
well the the most difficult thing is
that sometimes there are no signs and
symptoms and the first sign might be
just collapse on the field but I think
the most I guess the most important sign
to look for it would be any repeated
episodes of fainting signifying that
your heart may be going into short
episodes of dangerous rhythm and your
and it's stopping by itself so repeated
episode of fainting I think the other
item is any family history of dying
suddenly before the age of 50 so those
two things are if present would be sort
of a red flag warning symptoms but
unfortunately a lot of times there are
no warning symptoms a lot of family
history of heart problems like if the
grandfather and grandmother had a heart
history if dad has a heart history right
so so most of the sudden cardiac death
occur in patients with history of heart
disease but this is a different group of
people and that these are younger group
of people a lot of this is genetically
transmitted but the type of heart
problem that predisposes to
death in older individuals are not the
same mechanism as type of problem that
predisposes to sudden death in in young
athletes so if a child and kids are
usually pretty resilient if a child
seems to fatigue or exhaust earlier than
most of the other kids seems to have
breathing problems or would be clutching
his chest should that be a cause for
concern that would be a cause for
concern yes for sure
the the symptoms that you're describing
you know may be you know just
statistical from just statistically
speaking it might unite more be
consistent with asthma or some kind of a
lung problem but it in in in in young
folks in young patients again they could
collapse they can collapse without
warning and basically what you're saying
is that sometimes you don't know that
there's going to be an onset here no
it's a completely you got to look for
little subtle signs um and it's not just
a nomenclature difference here a sudden
cardiac arrest is different for a heart
attack it is a very different mechanism
especially in young children it is it's
not associated with any blockages in the
coronary arteries or any kind of
congestive heart failure which means
weakening of the pumping of the heart
muscle so the pathophysiology is very
different in older folks compared to
young people and schools have become
very proactive now in trying to make
sure that they can prepare for any
eventualities what do you do to mitigate
the problem what's what's the quickest
treatment if all of a sudden you see a
child go into this sudden cardiac arrest
well first and foremost is recognizing
the signs and symptoms of what could
potentially be a catastrophe the second
thing is just raising public awareness
about about something like this that
could happen having a public access to
probably years so everywhere that's
visible having educational courses
available for
you know CPR is basic life support and
advanced cardiac life support and just
just just just having everybody be
knowledgeable about how you know having
how to save someone that save kids that
might be in distress so parents should
talk to their doctor when they're
getting this for its physical and just
say hey is there anything that raises a
red flag with you and they should talk
to the school and the coaches and say
hey just in case do you have the defib
units there that we've heard so much
about
right so it's very important you know
airports hotels having those things all
around and also under supports very
important dr. Robert Kim thanks very
much for being here
it's the Aussie Heart and Vascular
Center if you have any questions we will
post this interview on news for Jax calm
so your parents can review it and share
with the other parents who happen to be
in your school as well