SynthesisSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2025
Sex Differences in the Incidence of Sudden Cardiac Arrest/Death in Competitive Athletes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Redesigning cardiovascular medicine around sex differences.Nature medicine · 2026Review
- Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in the Differential Diagnosis Between Athlete's Heart and Cardiac Pathology: Current Evidence and Diagnostic Challenges.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Exercise-Induced Coronary Remodeling and the Atherosclerotic Paradox in Endurance Athletes: Toward a Unified Mechanobiological Framework.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2026Review
- Genotype status and arrhythmic risk in sport participants with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.European heart journal open · 2026Article
- Male predominance in sports sudden cardiac arrest: a behavioural driver of risk?Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2026Article
- Sudden cardiac arrest during endurance races: beyond final acceleration?Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2026Article
- Associations between the standard deviation of apparent temperature and sudden cardiac arrest during the Taipei Marathon, 2013-2024.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Sudden cardiac arrest in young adults: A comprehensive systematic review of epidemiology, aetiology and preventive strategies.Heart international · 2026Review
- Beyond the QT interval: how QT/RR hysteresis may reveal a sex-dependent hidden risk for cardiac arrhythmias.American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology · 2025Article
- Athlete's Heart Revisited: Historical, Clinical, and Molecular Perspectives.Circulation research · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough many studies have demonstrated a lower incidence of sudden cardiac arrest or death (SCA/D) in female athletes than in male, there is limited understanding of the specific underlying causes.
objectiveThis systematic review aimed to assess the disparities in SCA/D incidence between male and female competitive athletes and explore the associated etiologies.
methodsA comprehensive search was conducted for retrospective and prospective studies examining SCA/D incidence in male and female athletes. Incidence and incidence rate ratios (IRRs) according to sex were evaluated.
resultsAmong the 16 studies analyzed, 1797 cases of SCA/D were observed; 1578 occurred in males (87.81%). Ages ranged from adolescent to adult. The incidence was 1.42/100,000 athlete-years (AY) in males (95% CI 0.97-2.09), and 0.32/100,000 AY in females (95% CI 0.17-0.59), resulting in an IRR of 5.55. When considering athletes aged ≤ 35 years, the incidence was 1.46/100,000 AY in males (95% CI 0.91-2.34) and 0.30/100,000 AY in females (95% CI 0.14-0.66), with an IRR of 5.47. The IRR was 5.13 (95% CI 3.94-6.67) for the most recent studies with athletes enrolled only after the year 2000, versus 6.02 (95% CI 4.59-7.90) for the remaining studies covering all observed years. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) was the predominant cause among males (45.12%), while congenital coronary anomalies were more prevalent in females (33.04%).
conclusionThe incidence of SCA/D in females was approximately 6 times lower than in males, with sex differences also in the leading causes of SCA/D. Understanding these discrepancies could lead to targeted strategies for the prevention of SCD in athletes. REGISTRATION NUMBER: (PROSPERO 2023 CRD42023432022)/05.07.2023.
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