Resumption of elite-level sports ‘safe and feasible’ after COVID-19
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Key takeaways:
- Resumption of elite-level competitive sports after COVID-19 is “safe and feasible.”
- No elite athletes who had COVID-19 developed new cardiac symptoms or events or had their sports careers end due to COVID-19.
Resumption of elite-level sports after recovery from COVID-19 is “safe and feasible,” according to a prospective study of Dutch athletes.
The researchers conducted a prospective controlled study of Dutch athletes from the ELITE cohort. The study included 259 athletes (mean age, 26 years; 40% women), of whom 123 had COVID-19 (9% with CV symptoms) and 136 served as controls.
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All athletes underwent imaging studies including cardiac MRI to compare ventricular volumes and function, late gadolinium enhancement and T1 relaxation times. The researchers also collected data on cardiac adverse events, ventricular arrhythmia burden and cessation of sports careers. Mean follow-up was 26.7 months.
The researchers found no differences between the groups in function and volumetric cardiac MRI parameters.
There were four athletes from the COVID-19 group (3%) who demonstrated late gadolinium enhancement, one of which was reversible, compared with none from the control group. During the study period, all four of those athletes returned to play with no increase in ventricular arrhythmias or adverse cardiac remodeling, according to the researchers.
No athletes from the COVID-19 group reported new cardiac symptoms or events, the researchers wrote.
Among the COVID-19 group, 96% were still participating in elite-level sports by the end of the study period, and no sports careers ended because of COVID-19, Juliette C. van Hattum, MD, a PhD candidate at Amsterdam University Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, and colleagues wrote.
“Resumption of elite-level competitive sports after a SARS-CoV-2 infection is safe and feasible, even in the small group (3%) of athletes with SARS-CoV-2 related myocardial sequelae,” van Hattum and colleagues wrote. “Our study shows that, in elite athletes, cessation of professional sports careers was not associated with SARS-CoV-2. We observed no interaction between high-intensity exercise, cardiac remodeling and SARS-CoV-2 during cross-sectional controlled or prospective analysis. During more than 2 years of follow-up, no cardiac symptoms or adverse cardiac events were reported by the included athletes after resuming elite-level sports.”
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