CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 286Cardiovascular Effects of ExerciseCardiac pacing and defibrillation studiesCardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias

Safety of Sports for Athletes With Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators: Results of a Prospective, Multinational Registry

Lampert, Rachel, Olshansky, Brian, Heidbuchel, Hein, Lawless, Christine, Saarel, Elizabeth, Ackerman, Michael, Calkins, Hugh, Estes, N.A. Mark +15 more·2013·Circulation
DOI 10.1161/circulationaha.112.000447
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Background—: The risks of sports participation for implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) patients are unknown. Methods and Results—: Athletes with ICDs (age, 10–60 years) participating in organized (n=328) or high-risk (n=44) sports were recruited. Sports-related and clinical data were obtained by phone interview and medical records. Follow-up occurred every 6 months. ICD shock data and clinical outcomes were adjudicated by 2 electrophysiologists. Median age was 33 years (89 subjects <20 years of age); 33% were female. Sixty were competitive athletes (varsity/junior varsity/traveling team). A pre-ICD history of ventricular arrhythmia was present in 42%. Running, basketball, and soccer were the most common sports. Over a median 31-month (interquartile range, 21–46 months) follow-up, there were no occurrences of either primary end point—death or resuscitated arrest or arrhythmia- or shock-related injury—during sports. There were 49 shocks in 37 participants (10% of study population) during competition/practice, 39 shocks in 29 participants (8%) during other physical activity, and 33 shocks in 24 participants (6%) at rest. In 8 ventricular arrhythmia episodes (device defined), multiple shocks were received: 1 at rest, 4 during competition/practice, and 3 during other physical activity. Ultimately, the ICD terminated all episodes. Freedom from lead malfunction was 97% at 5 years (from implantation) and 90% at 10 years. Conclusions—: Many athletes with ICDs can engage in vigorous and competitive sports without physical injury or failure to terminate the arrhythmia despite the occurrence of both inappropriate and appropriate shocks. These data provide a basis for more informed physician and patient decision making in terms of sports participation for athletes with ICDs.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1161/circulationaha.112.000447

Cites

45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In the ICD Sports Safety Registry, ventricular arrhythmias requiring multiple shocks occurred in 8 episodes in 7 patients (2% of the study population), all of whom had either catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, idiopathic ventricular fibrillation, or coronary artery disease.

    “Ventricular arrhythmias requiring multiple shocks occurred in 8 episodes in 7 patients, 2% of the study population, all of whom had either catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, idiopathic ventricular fibrillation, or coronary artery disease.”

    From Managing with pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (2013) · cites this paper as [106]

    The Secondary End Point section reports 8 episodes in 7 people (2% of the study population) requiring more than one shock. But it also identifies one of those seven as having hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, so the claim that all had one of the three listed diagnoses is not supported; Table 5 likewise lists that patient. (LLM, conf=0.94)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • In the ICD Sports Safety Registry, over a median two and a half years of follow-up, shocks, both appropriate and inappropriate, were not rare.

    “Over a median two and half years follow-up, shocks, both appropriate and inappropriate, were not rare.”

    From Managing with pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (2013) · cites this paper as [106]

  • In the ICD Sports Safety Registry, freedom from lead malfunction was 97% at 5 years from implant and 90% at 10 years, similar to previously reported malfunction rates in unselected populations.

    “Freedom from lead malfunction was 97% at 5 years (from implant) and 90% at 10 years, similar to previously-reported malfunction rates in unselected populations.66”

    From Managing with pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (2013) · cites this paper as [106]

  • In the ICD Sports Safety Registry, shocks occurred at similar rates during competition or practice (10% of participants) and during other physical activity (8%), but were statistically less common at rest (6%).

    “Shocks occurred at similar rates during competition or practice, occurring in 10% of participants, as during other physical activity, occurring in 8%, although were statistically less common at rest, occurring in 6%.”

    From Managing with pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (2013) · cites this paper as [106]

  • In the ICD Sports Safety Registry, there were no occurrences of either primary endpoint-death or resuscitated arrest, or arrhythmia- or shock-related injury-during sports.

    “However, there were no occurrences of either primary endpoint: 1) death or resuscitated arrest, or 2) arrhythmia-or shock-related injury, during sports.”

    From Managing with pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (2013) · cites this paper as [106]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [8]8. Schron EB, Exner DV, Yao Q, Jenkins LS, Steinberg JS, Cook JR, Kutalek SP, Friedman PL, Bubien RS, Page RL, Powell J. Quality of life in the antiarrhythmics versus implantable defibrillators. Circulation. 2002;105:589-594.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Lampert, R., Olshansky, B., Heidbuchel, H., Lawless, C., Saarel, E., Ackerman, M., Calkins, H., Estes, N. A. M., Link, M. S., Maron, B. J., Marcus, F., Scheinman, M., Wilkoff, B. L., Zipes, D. P., Berul, C. I., Cheng, A., Law, I., Loomis, M., Barth, C., Brandt, C., Dziura, J., Li, F., & Cannom, D.
Affiliations
  • University of Iowa (US)
  • From the Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT (R.L., C.B., C.B., J.D., F.L.); University of Iowa, Iowa City (B.O., I.L.); University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (H.H.); Sports Cardiology Consultants LLC, Chicago, IL (C.L.); University of Utah, Salt Lake City (E.S.); Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN (M.A.); Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD (H.C., A.C.); Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA (N.A.M.E., M.S.L.); Minneapolis Heart Institute, Minneapolis, MN (B.J.M.); University of Arizona, Tucson (F...
ORCID
Venue
Circulation
Publisher
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Published
2013-05-21
Volume
127
Issue
20
Pages
2021-2030
ISSN
  • 0009-7322 (ISSN-L)
  • 1524-4539
DOI
10.1161/circulationaha.112.000447
OpenAlex
W1996214292
Semantic Scholar
89cd7d2d8332a805d9f2a873b6aa0aa2cca6e9c3
Cited by
286
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 26 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 2
FWCI
15.62
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Circulation (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Pfizer
  • AstraZeneca
  • Sanofi
  • University of Rochester
  • Boston Scientific Corporation
  • Georgia Clinical and Translational Science Alliance (UL1 RR024139)
  • Bayer HealthCare
  • European Society of Cardiology
  • National Institutes of Health
  • St. Jude Medical
  • Medical Center, University of Rochester
  • National Center for Research Resources (CTSA Grant Number UL1 RR024139, RR024139, UL1RR024139)
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (CTSA Grant Number UL1 RR024139, RR024139)
  • Biosense Webster
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Effects of Exercise
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac pacing and defibrillation studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias
Keywords
implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, athletes, sports participation, ICD shocks, inappropriate shocks, ventricular arrhythmias, lead malfunction, sudden cardiac death, physical activity safety
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Athletic Injuries, Child, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Prospective Studies, Registries, Risk Factors, Sports, Defibrillators, Implantable, Internationality, Young Adult, Athletes

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review