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Pipe did not talk about Lum’s case specifically, but he noted there have been other high profile cases of athletes and people who are very fit but have suffered from severe heart disease or cardiac arrest while involved in a sports event. That can sometimes create “cynicism” about exercise. That view, said Pipe, is unwarranted given the rare nature of these events and the benefits of regular exercise.
“These events, particularly among individuals who are seemingly fit, are very, very rare. Physical activity, particularly of an aerobic kind, confers very substantial protection. Tragically and exceptionally there will be times when people have cardiac events in the course of exercise.”
Pipe, who is chief of rehabilitation and prevention at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, has worked with Olympic and other elite athletes. Among his patients, he said, have been elite athletes who suffered from cardiac arrest.
“I have seen patients with no family history (of heart disease), with a pristine lifestyle, who are endurance athletes at a very high level and all of a sudden they have a sudden, dramatic cardiac arrest,” he said. One such patient was saved by a defibrillator.
“The bottom line is that these are rare, but obviously they raise a lot of questions.”
When people are over 35, he said, cardiac arrest is “almost universally” caused by coronary artery disease — the accumulation of plaque in the arteries that can impede the flow of blood and oxygen and can cause heart attacks.
“Being physically fit does not equate to having coronary arteries that are free of disease,” he said.
The reason why it's in fitness is that it's a fitness related concern. I'd be interested to know if people going "all out" during their exercise sessions are ever concerned about this sort of possibility.
The question is, is the heart attack rate lower, higher or the same when compared to inactive folks? I know a girl who dropped at mile 20 of a marathon from a heart attack, she survived and was subsequently diagnosed with a heart defect that she had for her entire life and never knew of. Best place and timing for it to occur
Very good point. Perhaps he wasn't being followed as closely as he should have. His cholesterol/lipid had to be pretty good as well as his other risk factors. Illicit drugs use? Was it related to a structural defect/anomaly in his arteries?
The question is, is the heart attack rate lower, higher or the same when compared to inactive folks? I know a girl who dropped at mile 20 of a marathon from a heart attack, she survived and was subsequently diagnosed with a heart defect that she had for her entire life and never knew of. Best place and timing for it to occur
Absolutely, for every bad situation (sudden death), there's got to be thousands of positive outcomes from people who got off the couch, gave up bad habits (sedentary life, poor died/nutrition, smoking, stress) and started exercising and have lived a long, healthier life because they took up exercise/running/fitness.
I've seen people making snide comments about this all over the internet. From accusing him or drug use to dismissing all diet/exercise as bogus... Truth be told he is a middle aged man with a family history of heart disease. I'm thinking some people don't realize he is past 50 and as much as we like to pretend everyone lives to 80 or 90 there are plenty of healthy people who do not make it out of middle age.
I've been focusing more fitness the last year or two but regardless of effort I am going to be a cancer risk because of family history. I also have blood pressure/heart disease/stroke in my family. But the annoying thing is that all these relatives died of those diseases in there 70s and 80s. The one person who died in his 70s was a grandfather who had my own later in life dad as part of a second family. So basically he made it to his 70s in rural Tennessee in the early 1960s. Whenever I have switched doctors they act as if they need to go over me with a fine tooth comb or sent me straight to the local medical university because of 'family history.' Then I'm stuck pointing out everyone was old while they tisk, tisk away...
I've seen people making snide comments about this all over the internet. From accusing him or drug use to dismissing all diet/exercise as bogus... Truth be told he is a middle aged man with a family history of heart disease. I'm thinking some people don't realize he is past 50 and as much as we like to pretend everyone lives to 80 or 90 there are plenty of healthy people who do not make it out of middle age.
Yeah...I know a guy that was a Phys. Ed teacher all his life, ran approximately a mile and a half a day (more than that hurt his knees,) and had a heart attack. He was 60.
While crappy diet and sedentary lifestyle etc can increase your chances of a heart attack, no amount of kale and jogging and fitness can eliminate your chances either. You can tilt the odds one way or another, but it all depends.
The question is, is the heart attack rate lower, higher or the same when compared to inactive folks? I know a girl who dropped at mile 20 of a marathon from a heart attack, she survived and was subsequently diagnosed with a heart defect that she had for her entire life and never knew of. Best place and timing for it to occur
I imagine that it depends on how you run the marathon. If you can run the marathon at a pace where you can limit the amount of energy received from your glycolytic pathway, you will lessen the amount of harmful substrates in your body; however, you will not be competitive in the race unless you're some kind of super human that doesn't produce lactic acid like Dean Karnazes.
Elite athletes are generally not very healthy.
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