Twenty-year experience from a single center suggests that most athletes with long QT syndrome (LQTS) can safely return to play, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, to coincide with the annual meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society. Investigators examined the prevalence and outcomes of athletes with sudden cardiac deathpredisposing genetic heart diseases (GHDs), particularly LQTS, after their return to play in a retrospective study. The EMRs of 672 athletes with GHD were reviewed, including 494 athletes with LQTS who were given return-to-play approval. The study team found that 16.0% of the 494 athletes with LQTS were symptomatic before diagnosis and 11.7% had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. There was no GHD-sports-associated mortality in 2,056 combined years of follow-up. One or more non-lethal LQTS-associated breakthrough cardiac events occurred in 29 patients (5.9%). Fifteen of these (3.0%) were athletes at the time of the breakthrough cardiac event: Three and 12 (0.6% and 2.4%, respectively) experienced a sports-related breakthrough cardiac event and a non-sports-related event, respectively. Per 100 athlete-years of follow-up, the overall event rate was 1.16 non-lethal events.
