Can sports with atrial fibrillation be fatal?
In Germany, several hundred people die every year during sports from sudden cardiac death due to cardiac arrhythmia. However, it is usually the ventricular fibrillation that is responsible for this, not the atrial fibrillation. This is particularly the case in people who have not yet been diagnosed with pre-existing heart conditions that cause arrhythmias.
If you suffer from known atrial fibrillation, it is important to implement the right treatment and to do suitable sports. If one does appropriate sports and is well adjusted with the appropriate therapy, this is not fatal but even beneficial to health. Death from atrial fibrillation during sports is very unlikely and if it occurs, the disease is usually neither known nor treated.
Does atrial fibrillation limit my performance during sports?
Whether or not atrial fibrillation restricts performance during exercise depends on the type of sport. During endurance sports (running, cycling, cross-country skiing), the cardiovascular system is put under stress and the heart is pumping more efficiently and the pulse rate is increased, while blood pressure increases only slightly. Atrial fibrillation often noticeably reduces performance during endurance sports by 5 to 15%, especially when the heart is pre-damaged. In contrast, strength training (e.g. training with weights or equipment) does not reduce performance. In mixed forms of physical exercise (rowing, games, alpine skiing, volleyball), atrial fibrillation can restrict performance to varying degrees.
Do athletes get atrial fibrillation more often than non-athletes?
There are so-called predictors for atrial fibrillation in athletes. Such possible predictive values for the occurrence of atrial fibrillation in an athlete’s sport are 1) a slow heart rate 2) a large left atrium. These two findings are often seen in otherwise healthy endurance athletes.
They promote the occurrence of atrial fibrillation. However, it cannot be said that athletes get atrial fibrillation more frequently than non-athletes, since the causes of the disease are extensive. An unhealthy lifestyle with overweight and poor nutrition promotes the development of coronary heart disease (CHD), the main risk factor for the development of atrial fibrillation.
