Sudden cardiac arrest: tracking a silent killer
Sudden deaths from cardiac arrest areon the rise, even among athletes, and doctors are struggling towork out why, writesElaine Yau
The unfortunate demise of Hong Kong resident Andy Naylor at a triathlon race two weekends ago has brought attention to sudden death, cases of which are rising in this city, figures indicate.
The 43-year-old, a top local runner and Hong Kong police superintendent, "experienced distress" near the end of the 3.8-kilometre swim leg in the Hudson River during the Ironman US Championship in New York, according to race organisers. The results of an autopsy are pending.
Naylor's death comes a year after two athletes died of sudden cardiac arrest in the 1.5-kilometre swimming portion of the New York City Triathlon, also in the Hudson River.
Minneapolis Heart Institute cardiologist Kevin Harris published a study in 2010 in The Journal of the American Medical Association analysing the results of 2,971 USA Triathlon-sanctioned events held between January 2006 and September 2008, involving nearly 960,000 participants.
During that period, 14 participants died. Thirteen of them, aged between 28 and 65, died while swimming and another while cycling. Autopsies identified cardiovascular abnormalities as factors behind seven of nine swimming deaths.
Harris' study found a sudden-death rate of 1.5 per 100,000 competitors in triathlons, while the rate in marathons over a 30-year period was 0.8 per 100,000.