Basketball and cardiac arrest
“Male basketball players are the most likely athletes to suffer sudden cardiac death,” says Sara Gould, MD, a sports medicine expert and physician in the UAB Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. She’s also served as medical director for numerous National Basketball Association events and team physician for the UAB Blazers women’s basketball team. “First of all, basketball requires sudden bursts of cardiovascular effort that may expose heart disorders. Also, the body type of athletes selected for basketball – tall with long limbs – seems to increase the likelihood for connective tissue disorders that can affect the heart.”
Between 2014 and 2016, according to research published in the
Sports Health journal, there were 132 cases of cardiac arrest among middle school, high school, and college athletes. About 30% of these cases occurred during basketball, and 48% of the athletes survived sudden cardiac arrest. The research suggests that the survival rate could be improved significantly. Dr. Gould also points to
research by her UAB Medicine colleague Irfan Asif, MD, which found that Black male college basketball players have a high risk of SCD, though the causes are debated.