By the Numbers
Sudden cardiac arrest is a cardiovascular condition found throughout the world. In Canada alone, almost 100 people experience sudden cardiac arrest every day.
Sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in competitive athletes, with rates up to 1 in 20,000. Based on pre-COVID-19 studies, a young, competitive athlete dies from sudden cardiac arrest every 2-3 days in the United States. Unfortunately, these disturbingly high rates may be an underestimation as studies suggest that a large number of unexplained deaths among athletes are actually undiagnosed cases of sudden cardiac arrest.
Not Adding Up
The claim by COVID-19 vaccine opponents that sudden cardiac arrest does not occur in healthy young people is inaccurate. A UK organization called “Cardiac Risk in the Young” (CRY) has conducted research showing that over 80% of young people who are at risk of dying from sudden cardiac arrest have no prior symptoms or family history of cardiovascular disease. In another study, they found that enhanced medical screening of over 11,000 English football players (16-17 years old) revealed that 1 in 50 had heart abnormalities. The study also found that despite enhanced cardiac screening processes, the incidence of sudden cardiac death in this apparently healthy and active population was 1 in 14,794 person-years. The fact is: the vast majority of young people who experience sudden cardiac arrest are considered to be healthy prior to any cardiac incident and there are few or no signs before cardiac arrest. For many the first sign of a problem is sudden cardiac arrest.
A Trending Myth
If COVID-19 vaccines are not to blame, then what it causing increased rates of sudden cardiac deaths in athletes? The answer to that question is ‘nothing’, because there is no increase.
A Real Time News article collected information on sudden cardiac deaths among FIFA players and claimed that since the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines, sudden deaths among football players has increased 500%. The article drew its data from media reports of deaths and compared these numbers to a historical record of deaths posted on Wikipedia. Based on this highly questionable analysis, the 500% increase in deaths was reached.
Agence France-Presse asked Drs. Florian Egger and Tim Meyer to review the information collected as part of the Real Time News article. Dr. Egger leads the "FIFA Register for Sudden Deaths and Cardiac Arrests", while Dr. Meyer is chairman of the medical commission of the German Football Association and team doctor for the German national football team. Both concluded that the evidence put forth by Real Time News did not support the claim of increased sudden cardiac deaths among FIFA players. In fact. Dr. Egger found that based on data collected by the FIFA registry over the first 10 months of 2021, rates are actually lower than pre-COVID-19 levels.
