PREVALENCE OF ABNORMAL ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHIC PATTERNS IN FEMALE FOOTBALLERS IN NIGERIA

This study aimed at evaluating the prevalence of abnormal electrocardiographic (ECG) patterns in female footballers to assess the need for screening program for conditions that leads to sudden cardiac death (SCD) among athletes Background: Pre-participation screening with ECG reduces the incidence of SCD in athletes. However, SCDs has very low occurrence in athletes. In Nigeria, people with symptoms or family history of hereditary heart problems or early cardiac death are the only ones who can be screened for cardiac disorders. Methods: 56 female footballer’s ages 19 to 40 years underwent ECG screening. Electrocardiograms were analyzed for group 1 (training-related) and group 2 (potentially pathological) patterns following the 2010 European Society of Cardiology guideline for interpreting ECG in athletes. Results: Mean age of the players was 26.3 ± 5.0, mean body mass index was 23.12 kg/m2 ± 2.49, mean resting heart rate was 73.55 beats per minute ± 13.26, mean systolic blood pressure was 127.77 mmHg ± 119.47, and mean diastolic blood pressure was 71.62 mmHg ± 8.94. 42.9% of the participants had normal ECG. Group 1 patterns occurred in 30.4% of the female footballers while Group 2 patterns occurred in 37.5%. Anterior ischemia comprised the majority (19.6%) of the changes, sinus bradycardia (16.1%) and T-wave inversions constituted 12.5%. Conclusions: The study demonstrated that apart from sinus bradycardia, non-exercise related ECG changes such as ischemia and T wave abnormalities were major ECG changes among female footballers in Nigeria. ECG is vital to identify cardiac abnormalities in order to minimize the risk of sudden cardiac death during exercise