Abnormal electrocardiogram findings are common in NBA players

Because of rare but high-profile instances of cardiac death among professional athletes there is intense interest in identifying test markers of abnormal heart function that may put players at risk. The National Basketball Association (NBA) mandates annual cardiac screening to ensure the safety of its players. Athletes are known to have changes in their hearts and ECG patterns appropriate to their intense athletic training, so athlete-specific criteria have been developed to distinguish normal from abnormal ECG findings. This study investigates how those criteria perform in NBA athletes. The study measured ECG findings for NBA athletes using three athlete-specific ECG criteria, with corresponding echocardiogram findings

This is a descriptive study, so the researchers did not gather information about underlying causes for the findings and cannot make conclusions about their medical or athletic significance.

Results

Compared to other athletes, abnormal ECG findings were found in:

• 81 NBA athletes (15.6 percent) using 2017 criteria
• 108 NBA athletes (20.8 percent) using 2014 criteria
• 131 NBA athletes (25.2 percent) using 2012 criteria

Increased left ventricular relative wall thickness (RWT) was associated with abnormal ECG findings. Abnormal T-wave inversions (a type of abnormal ECG finding) were present in 32 athletes (6.2 percent), and was associated with smaller left ventricular cavity size and increased RWT. Study limitations suggest that the results cannot be generalized to athletes in other sports and to youth basketball players.