Key Points
John P. Higgins, a sports cardiologist with the Houston Rockets and a professor of cardiovascular medicine at UTHealth Houston, said in a blog for his university: "There are a number of causes for sudden cardiac arrest in athletes who are 35 and younger..
The causes of cardiac arrest vary and can include heart attacks, heart valve disease, inflammation of the heart (acute myocarditis), congenital heart disease, and inherited heart conditions such as cardiomyopathy...
According to Higgins, most of the conditions that cause cardiac arrest in young athletes are hereditary, and screening rarely detects early signs...
While heart attacks can cause cardiac arrests,the two are different: during a cardiac arrest, a person will collapse, fall unconscious, struggle to breath, and/or be unconscious, according to the BHF...
However, if paramedics are able to help, a person's chances of survival increase drastically between 2009 and 2014,43.8%of athletes who suffered sudden cardiac arrest and were attended to by paramedics went to hospital and lived..
