Leisure athletes at risk of medical complications: outcomes of pre-participation screening among 15,778 endurance runners - SAFER VII
| dc.contributor.author | Schwabe, Karen | |
| dc.contributor.author | Schwellnus, Martin | |
| dc.contributor.author | Swanevelder, Sonja | |
| dc.contributor.author | Jordaan, Esme | |
| dc.contributor.author | Derman, Wayne | |
| dc.contributor.author | Bosch, Andrew | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-09-17T13:40:07Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2018-09-17T13:40:07Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2018 | |
| dc.description.abstract | OBJECTIVE: International guidelines for pre-participation screening of masters/leisure athletes to identify those that require medical assessment exist, but have not been implemented in mass-community based sports events. We determined the prevalence of runners who, according to these guidelines, would require a medical assessment before participating in a distance running event. METHODS: Participants of the 2012 Two Oceans races (21.1 and 56 km) in South Africa (n = 15,778) completed an online pre-race medical screening questionnaire using European pre-participation screening guidelines. We determined the prevalence of runners that would require a pre-race medical assessment, based on risk factors, symptoms, and disease. RESULTS: The pre-participation “self assessment of risk” screening identified 4,941 runners (31.3%; 95% CI 30.6–32.0) that would need to undergo a full pre-participation medical assessment prior to running, if the current pre-participation screening guidelines are applied. Although musculoskeletal complaints and prescription medication use were the main triggers for a medical assessment, 16.8% (n = 2657) runners should undergo medical evaluation for suspected cardiac disease based on the questionnaire results: 3.4% (n = 538) reporting existing CVD (very high risk) and 13.4% (n = 2119) reporting multiple CVD risk factors (high risk). Other possible risk factors were reported as follows: history of chronic diseases (respiratory = 13.1%, gastro-intestinal = 4.3%, nervous system = 3.8%, metabolic/endocrine = 3.5%, allergies = 13.9%); chronic prescription medication = 14.8%, used medication before or during races = 15.6%; past history of collapse during a race = 1.4%. CONCLUSIONS: Current guidelines identified that > 30% runners would require a full medical assessment before race participation – mainly linked to runners reporting musculoskeletal conditions. We suggest a revision of guidelines and propose that pre-race screening should be considered to identify runners with a “very high,” “high,” and “intermediate risk” for medical complications during exercise. Pre-race screening and educational intervention could be implemented to reduce medical complications during exercise. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Schwabe,K. et al. (2018). Leisure athletes at risk of medical complications: outcomes of preparticipation screening among 15,778 endurance runners - SAFER VII. The Physician and Sports medicine, 2018. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.issn | 0091-3847 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00913847.2018.1505569 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10566/4050 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.privacy.showsubmitter | FALSE | |
| dc.publisher | Taylor & Francis | en_US |
| dc.rights | This is the author-version of the article published online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00913847.2018.1505569 | |
| dc.status.ispeerreviewed | TRUE | |
| dc.subject | Running | en_US |
| dc.subject | Pre-participation medical screening | en_US |
| dc.subject | Cardiovascular disease | en_US |
| dc.subject | Chronic disease | en_US |
| dc.subject | Risk factors | en_US |
| dc.title | Leisure athletes at risk of medical complications: outcomes of pre-participation screening among 15,778 endurance runners - SAFER VII | en_US |
| dc.type | Article | en_US |