Detection of cardiac arrhythmias among people practicing sport in a non-professional way.

Aim:
Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the most frequent medical cause of sudden death in athletes. As it is commonly known, long-term training leads to hemodynamic changes and heart remodeling. ECG is a simply to perform, cardiological test which can detect arrhythmias and pathological or physiological changes for athletes. Main aim of this study was to show which arrhythmias appear in non-professional athletes. Another was to assess the usefulness of ECG as a screening test in this population.

Material and methods:
Study population consisted of 261 white amateur and recreational athletes (69 women, 192 men), aged 20 to 68 years. 261 resting ECG and 148 ECG after the end of competition were done. Moreover, participants completed the questionnaire about basic socio demographicdata, medical history, training data and supplementation.

Results:
The most common ECG findings are: early repolarization (ER), incomplete right bundle branch block, right bundle branch block, non-specific intraventricular conduction disorders, atrioventricular block. Furthermore, 56 athletes had electrocardiographic features of left ventricular hypertrophy in resting ECG.

Conclusions:
We found some harmless disorders which required further diagnostics. ECG is a useful tool for screening athletes. Currently, in order to take part in amateur sports competitions, only the competitor's declaration of good health is required. Verification of these statements by doctors with an additional ECG test will allow for the first selection of athletes who require more detailed diagnostics. ECG disorders are common in the population of training people but fortunately most of them are connected with physiological heart remodeling.