Sports cardiology centre - experience to date, data from the 2020-2022 registry and challenges of the third year of operation
Authors: Jiravska Godula B , Pesova P , Spacek R , Pleva M , Krausova D , Pirchala M , Taborska A , Jiravsky O 
Published: May 2023

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): grant IGA_LF_2022_027.

Introduction

Sports cardiology is a dynamically developing subspecialty of cardiology. There are four Sports Cardiology Centres in the Czech Republic, which were established under the leadership of the Sports Cardiology Working Group thanks to the Czech Society of Cardiology (CSC) and the Czech Society of Sports Medicine.

Objective

To describe the experience, data from the registry of the Sports Cardiology Centre of our hospital for the period 1.1.2020-15.8.2022.

Functioning and file: A) The patient logs into our way by way of the web interface, where the basic information and previous examinations are given. B) These input data will be incorporated by the center coordinator , ensure communication with the client, other necessary information or examination and after consultation with sports cardiologists, determine a plan of care. C) The organisational aspects of the established procedure are ensured by the nurses. D) After the follow-up examination, the client has a final consultation at the centre, where sport recommendations are always given. Between 1/2020 and 8/15/2022, 133 athletes were consulted at our Sports Cardiology Centre. Of these, 18 athletes are not completed and 115 clients with completed examinations were included in the next cohort, where 100 were male(87%) and 25 were female(13%). All were Caucasian, with a mean age of 26 ± 11 years. The youngest athlete was 15 years old and the oldest was 71 years old. The sports the clients participated in were 66.1% mixed, 27.8% endurance, 4.3% strength and 1.7% skill sports according to the European Society of Cardiology(ESC)2020 sport distribution. The average training load was 10 h/week. The minimum training load was 3h/week and the maximum 25h/week. The average duration of sport activity was 12 years per individual. The most frequent request for consultation was without a medical referral and this was in 41.7%, a physical therapist indicated an examination in 36.5%, a cardiologist in 14.8% and a PL in 6.1%. Reasons for referral were most commonly abnormalities in preparticipation screening /PPS/ 40.9%, symptoms 22.6% and Covid infection 13.9%. A final diagnosis was completed in 89 athletes(77.4%), a suspected diagnosis was made in 8 clients(7%). Eligibility for sport and eligibility with condition was received in 90 individuals(78.3%). Ineligibility was issued in 4 athletes(3.5%). The number of athletes who did not complete the investigation/ did not come in for a result was 21(18.3%).

Conclusion

The established organisational procedure of consultations allows for the least possible staff load on the hospital and speeds up the process of athlete follow-up. In the pursuit of the development of the field and the achievement of a stable quality of care, our centre is potentially able to meet the requirements of the ESC/ European Association of Preventive Cardiology for a sports cardiology unit in terms of methodological/procedural and personnel parameters.