A high-profile case of a National Football League (NFL) player suffering a cardiac arrest mid-game has sparked a resurgence online of unsupported speculation of COVID-19 vaccines causing the condition widely among athletes.
Moreover, experts also told Reuters Fact Check that there is still no evidence of an increase in deaths or serious cardiac events among athletes, nor evidence that known effects of the vaccines have led to the type of cardiac events seen in these players.
BACKGROUND RATE
Professor Jeffrey Morris, the director of biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania, explained that while anecdotal reports of cardiac arrest in athletes will carry emotional weight, they do not prove much on their own.
He told Reuters via email that this is because sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and sudden arrhythmic death (SAD) both occur at “a substantial background rate” in the population, even among children and the young.
In the UK, Dr Steven Cox, chief executive of charity Cardiac Risk on the Young (CRY), also told Reuters via email that sudden cardiac death in young people “is sadly not a new phenomenon”.
He said that around 12 people aged 35 and under die suddenly each week in Britain from a previously undiagnosed condition.
Experts say there is no research that shows a link between COVID-19 vaccines and athletes collapsing or dying from sudden cardiac arrest.
