Electrocardiographic features suggesting mild myocarditis in the white athletes population during the covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The three-year SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic showed that the virus was so common that it could cause asymptomatic changes in the hearts of athletes. ST-elevation (STE) is considered a benign, typical adaptive change seen during exercise in athletes. We have noticed changes in the STE pattern on the ECG during routine annual examinations of athletes after the COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Assessment of persistent STE (patterns A1, A2, B3, B2, B1) after the COVID-19 pandemic as a variant of past myocarditis in the population of healthy athletes. RESULTS: Our ECG analysis of 1011 athletes from 2021 showed two years of STE in more than 80% of the people, at least over one heart wall, and in some trained athletes, common and bidirectional evolution of lesions with the elevation of the J point > 1 mm. The inability to send asymptomatic players for testing is the downside of this work, just like the inability to verify the presence of the virus in the body with a PCR and antigen test. CONCLUSIONS: Statistically significant relationships were observed between anthropometric parameters and STE patterns on the heart’s anterior, inferior and lateral walls and other ECG abnormalities in athletes. A persistent record suggests a history of myocarditis. Further monitoring of the population of young and adult athletes with STE is necessary, both in sports disciplines considered low (golf, canoeing) and high risk of death (football, martial arts, basketball) due to the risk of comorbid cardiovascular diseases.

Keywords

• myocarditis
• COVID-19
• SARS-CoV-2
• white athletes
• sport