Active Surveillance of Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Athletes by Periodic Internet Searches

Abstract

Objective We hypothesized that prospective, systematic Internet searches could identify occurrences of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in athletes, and would be useful to establish a system of active surveillance. Methods Weekly advanced Google searches of the Internet were conducted for cases of SCD in young athletes over a 12-month period (2007–8). Athletes aged 11 to 30 years who collapsed during a game, practice, or within an hour of exercise were included. Individuals with known histories of cardiac issues and events occurring outside the United States were excluded. Verification of SCD was by autopsy reports and death certificates from county coroner offices and vital record agencies. Results A total of 71 events were initially identified. Verification of the cause of death by coroner reports was possible in 45 cases, of which 43 (96%) were confirmed to be SCDs. Sixty-nine individuals, 11 to 30 years of age (mean 17 ± 5), died suddenly from cardiovascular causes while participating in 15 different organized sports and a variety of non-organized physical activities. The most common cause of death was hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (30%), followed by coronary artery anomalies (9%), and myocarditis (9%). The incidence of athlete SCD, types of sports involved, and cardiac causes of death in our study were comparable to previous reports. Conclusions Readily available Internet searches have the potential to be a powerful tool for identifying occurrences of athlete SCD. An active surveillance system using Google searches followed by coroner report verification can provide important epidemiologic and clinical information.

Severe heart failure and the need for mechanical circulatory support and heart transplantation in pediatric patients with myocarditis: Results from the prospective multicenter registry “MYKKE”

“…It remains unclear which factors influence the clinical course and determine the need for MCS or transplantation in these young children . As long‐term support has been reported as “bridge to recovery or transplantation”, MCS might be employed until cardiac function is stabilized.…”

“…20 Pharmacologic strategies address It remains unclear which factors influence the clinical course and determine the need for MCS or transplantation in these young children. 10,11,15,22 As long-term support has been reported as "bridge to recovery or transplantation", 15 cardiac or myocardial antibodies, should be considered. 27,28 On the other hand, de novo mutations or genetic predisposition may determine the course of myocarditis.…”

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“…Moreover, about a third of our patients presented myocardial oedema. This could have important clinical consequences, since patients with exercise-induced ventricular arrhythmias and myocardial oedema can be at risk for sudden cardiac death during exercise [ 26 ].…”

The potential use of social media and other internet-related data and communications for child maltreatment surveillance and epidemiological research: Scoping review and recommendations

“…Text mining of media reports may reduce the resources required for identification of articles but may not perform as well as human analysts (Collier, 2011). Human analysts have also been used to identify newspaper and website articles associated with drowning or near-drowning (Ferretti, De Angelis, Donati, & Torre, 2014;Zhu, Jiang, Li, Li, & Chen, 2015) and sudden cardiac death in athletes (Choi, Pan, Pock, & Chang, 2013).…”