Most cases of cardiac arrest during sport are likely to be preventable. In addition, the emergency response with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillators within the sports context can be improved. This has been shown in a thesis from the University of Gothenburg.
Swedish ambulance services report around 6,000 cases of sudden cardiac arrest annually. These are people who are not hospitalized but fall ill at home, at work or in other contexts. Of these, around 400 are affected within the context of sport.
In a thesis at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Matilda Frisk Torell, PhD student and Cardiologist, has taken a closer look at e.g., emergency assistance and prognoses for people who suffer sudden cardiac arrest during sports.
The chances of survival were found to be significantly better for sports-related cardiac arrest, especially if it occurred in a sports and training facility. In this group, survival 30 days after the event was 56%, compared with 12% for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in general. Late or no defibrillation Early CPR and defibrillation with an automated external defibrillator, AED, are crucial, but it still took at least 10 minutes before an available AED was used.
Despite the fact that a majority (73%) of those who suffered a cardiac arrest at a sports facility had an acute cardiac arrhythmia, known as ventricular fibrillation, where the defibrillator can be the difference between life and death, only 14% of the youngest, .