**Abstract**

Sudden death (SD) is the most dangerous and irreversible outcome of diseases in clinical as well as in sports medicine. Between 1980 and 2011, the Sudden Death in Young Athletes Registry in the USA, which was developed based on mass media information, recorded 2406 cases of sudden death, which were observed in 29 diverse sports. In the USA 80% of all SD occurred in high school/middle school or collegiate student athletes, and 20% were engaged in organized youth, postgraduate. Statistical data vary greatly in different countries: SCD incidence rate in the USA is 7.47 and 1.33 per 1,000,000 exercising male and female school-age athletes, respectively, whereas in Italy, the rate is 2.6 cases in men and 1.1 in women per 100,000 individuals per year who are involved in active competitive sports. The European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) position paper concluded that as an overall estimate, 1–2 out of 100,000 athletes between of age of 12 and 35 years old die suddenly each year. It was shown that the risk of SCD is significantly higher in athletes than in nonathletes with the same heart condition in the general population, by more than five times for ARVC, 2.6 times for coronary artery disease, 1.5 times for myocarditis, and more than 2 times for cardiac conduction system diseases.

**Keywords:** sport, sudden cardiac death, young athletes

## **1. Introduction**

Sudden death (SD) is the most dangerous and irreversible outcome of diseases in clinical [1] as well as in sports medicine [2–7]. SD in the sports definition includes cases of death that occurred immediately during exercise as well as within the first 1–24 hours from the onset of initial symptoms that have led to a change or cessation of physical activity. Most cases of SD in athletes are associated with sporting activity [6, 8]. In 2015 the European Guidelines for the Prevention of Sudden Death classified athletes into a separate group with a special risk of SD [9].

SD is traditionally considered to be associated primarily with heart diseases. But according to the data provided by the US National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes between 2003 and 2013, accidents are the leading cause of death in the SD structure of athletes (50%); however the leading position among somatic diseases undoubtedly belongs to sudden cardiac death (SCD) which constitutes 15% of all SD cases; the other causes of SD, both medical and nonmedical (suicide, homicide) do not exceed 10% [5].
