Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co (fka HMHC)

[barnyarddog]

Athletes With COVID-19 at Risk of Heart Inflammation, Small Study Finds

Sept. 12, 2:32 p.m. Roughly one in six college athletes who contracted COVID-19 later showed evidence of heart inflammation that could be dangerous if they return to play, a new study found.

The small study, conducted on 26 athletes at Ohio State University and published in JAMA Cardiology, revealed through cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging that four of the athletes had myocarditis, heart inflammation that can cause serious damage. Several others showed evidence of previous myocarditis that could have resulted from the coronavirus.

The threat of COVID-driven myocarditis among competitive athletes has been a source of contention in recent weeks. The Big Ten and Pac-12 Conferences opted not to play this fall in significant part because of concern among its member universities about the potentially fatal heart ailment.

Last week, officials at Pennsylvania State University sent conflicting signals about the threat. After the university's director of athletic medicine said at a public meeting that about a third of Big Ten Conference athletes who tested positive for the coronavirus showed signs of myocarditis, university officials sought to correct the record, citing the 15 percent figure.

-- Doug Lederman

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/10/02/live-updates-latest-news-coronavirus-and-higher-education