Black Athletes 5 Times More Likely Than White Peers To Suffer Sudden Cardiac Arrest

According to the study, 'Disparities in outcomes between Black and white athletes also exist without explanation.'

A recent review of data published by The Lancet and led by a sports cardiologist at Atlanta’s Emory University, Jonathan Kim, spotlights a concerning trend regarding sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and sudden cardiac death (SCD) for Black athletes.

According to the data review, Black athletes are five times as likely as white athletes to experience SCA and SCD.

According to Medical Xpress, the study from Kim and his colleagues at Laussane University Hospital, Morristown Medical, Massachusetts General Hospital, and other institutions also revealed significant racial disparities in electrocardiography readings (ECGs) taken of competitive athletes.

According to Kim, it is important to incorporate social determinants of health into any future research of how to mitigate risk for high-performing athletes.

“To truly address these disparities, it’s not enough to just screen for potential problems,” Kim said. “There needs to be an understanding of how to tackle the underlying social determinants of health that puts these athletes at a greater risk,” Kim said in a news release.

Kim continued, “We need to look for potential underlying health conditions. We also need to consider all the environmental stressors that young individuals have to deal with and also where they grow up. Just five to 10 years ago, I doubt many were thinking about social determinants of health and impacts on young athletes.”

According to the study, “Disparities in outcomes between Black and white athletes also exist without explanation. Causes of sudden cardiac arrest and death are age-dependent, with genetic heart conditions and unexplained cases (i.e., normal autopsy) predominant among younger athletes, and coronary artery disease accounting for most cases among veteran masters athletes.”

In February, Health spotlighted the story of Omar Carter, an NBA hopeful who suffered an on-court cardiac arrest during a Pro-Am game in 2013 at the age of 25.

According to Carter, he doesn’t fully recall what happened to him but he knows his experience wasn’t like the experiences dramatized for movies or television shows. “I [vaguely] remember trying to catch myself, which was kind of odd,” Carter, now 36, told Health.

“I’ve watched other sudden cardiac arrest videos where they kind of just drop; it was almost like I was aware.” Carter continued, “[I was told] I gave this dramatic, kind of cinematic breath back to life.” Even after Carter was hospitalized at Carolina Medical Center and placed in a medically induced coma, he awoke with basketball still on his mind.

“My first three questions were: ‘Have we prayed?’ ‘What day is it?’ and ‘Can I still play basketball?’” Carter recalled to Health.

According to Merije T. Chukumerije, the director of sports cardiology for the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Group, and the team cardiologist for the LA Galaxy and Los Angeles Clippers, “It most certainly has something to do with social determinants of health, [and] psychosocial stressors, including racism and discrimination.”

Jonathan Drezner, a medical doctor and the director of the UW Medicine Center for Sports Cardiology agrees with Chukumerije, telling Health, “Our research has shown that Black athletes with SCA come from neighborhoods with greater socioeconomic deprivation than white athletes with SCA, but the mechanisms that lead to a higher risk need to be elucidated,” said Drezner, who is a corresponding author on another study of sudden cardiac arrest among Black athletes published in 2020.

Drezner concluded, “These may include more access to healthcare, higher quality screening, more attention to cardiovascular symptoms or a family history of heart disease—all of which could lead to early detection of conditions at risk of SCA.”