10 • SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2021 • CAREGIVER
Sudden cardiac arrest
possible after illness
also get information about EKG testing
and the option to request an EKG from the
student’s medical provider as part of a comprehensive
exam.
Pennsylvania is only the second state, in
addition to Texas, to have such legislation.
With the information now available about
how covid-19 can potentially impact the
heart, Walker believes it’s even more important
to make sure parents are aware
of heart screenings.
Dr. William Apollo, medical
co-director of UPMC Sports Cardiology,
was on hand to assist in
April when the Peyton Walker
Foundation and volunteers conducted
heart screenings of Pennsylvania’s
Big 33 football team, an
all-star collection of the state’s top
players. After initially believing
covid-19 was a respiratory illness,
he said, they now know that it is
a systemic inflammatory illness
that can cause heart problems in
some patients.
The important thing to remember,
Apollo said, is that young,
One thing parents
and studentathletes
on the lookout for,
Apollo said, is
developing
symptoms such as
chest pain,
shortness of
breath, shortness
of breath with
exertion,
lightheadedness
and passing out,
after the child
gets back to
regular activity
and competition.
healthy athletes generally do well
with covid-19 infections and get
over the illness without complications.
“If you have a child or teen who had a
covid infection, I think definitely their doctor
should know about it, but most of those
people will do fine,” he said.
If you have a child who was moderately
sick with covid-19 — a persistent high fever,
profound fatigue, body aches — with symptoms
that lasted more than 10 days, he said,
they should probably be seen by a physician
with consideration as to whether or not further
testing is necessary before returning to
play and competition.
“Bloodwork, perhaps an EKG, echocardiogram
or ultrasound to make sure the
pumping function is OK,” he said. “What
those tests are designed to do is to determine
whether the patient has evidence of myocarditis,
or heart muscle inflammation. If there
is evidence of myocarditis in these athletes,
then activity needs to be significantly restricted
on the order of months.”
The Mayo Clinic defines sudden cardiac
arrest as the abrupt loss of heart function,
breathing and consciousness, which usually
results from an electrical disturbance that
disrupts pumping function and stops blood
flow. It isn’t the same as a heart attack, and
if not treated quickly it often leads to death.
Much of the time, sudden cardiac arrest
is due to congenital heart defects. But, it can
also occur after someone has been ill and
suffered inflammation to the heart or after
a direct blow to the chest.
“That myocarditis would be the link with
covid-19,” Apollo said. “If you have someone
who has cardiac involvement with
covid and develops myocarditis,that would be the link to sudden
cardiac death and those are the
patients you’d want to restrict
from physical activity.”
One thing parents and student
athletes should be on the
lookout for, Apollo said, is developing
symptoms such as chest pain,
shortness of breath, shortness of breath with exertion, lightheadedness
and passing out, after the
child gets back to regular activity
and competition.
“If there were any episodes of passing out, those would be definitely
problems, in my mind,”
he said. “I would think another
thing to look for, that may be a
should be
more subtle finding in an athlete, is if the
child goes back to competition and really
can’t do as much as they used to before, if they’re having trouble keeping up or reaching
their previous level of activity after the
convalescence from the illness. That would
be something to let the doctor know about
as well, because sometimes the athlete may
actually notice reduced functional capacity
even before they develop some of those other
symptoms.”
Walker said the foundation has been getting
inquiries from parents about whether or
not they should get their kids checked after
having covid-19. She tells them she’s not a
doctor but can point them to some resources
and share discussions.
“But I think the No. 1 thing is talking to
your kids about the signs and symptoms
that could be presenting because of a heart
issue,” she said. “Just knowing what to look
for. Kids don’t want to be pulled from play so
they maybe won’t tell you something weird’s
going on, or maybe they’re afraid the coach
will say they’re slacking off. Coaches, too,sometimes treat kids like they’re being lazy
when the kid may be having a heart issue,
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