[Study of unexpectedly detected repolarization in a group of black athletes]

Sudden death that occurs during sporting activity affects patients with ignored heart disease. Black athlete's ECG has been little studied and the features of this ethnic group have been discussed. This study aims to study the epidemiological profile and the peculiarities of repolarization of black athletes.

We conducted a descriptive study of black athletes selected among all the athletes followed in the sectoral Center of Sports Science and Medicine in Sousse over a period of 8 months from March to October 2014. Data were collected using a medical questionnaire.

Data on 35 athletes were collected, with a male predominance (94,28%), with an average age of 24,34 years. Four athletes had left ventricular hypertrophy on cardiac ultrasound. There were 8 athletes with atrioventricular block degree I and 8 athletes with electrical type of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). ST segment changes were more marked at the level of precordial leads. Five athletes (14.2%) had inverted T waves in V2 and V3. These were the same athletes who ST-segment depression in these same leads. Early repolarization was found in 3 athletes. All these cases had notch signaling.

Black athletes have quite specific electrical modifications which are important to know. However, our sample is not sufficiently large to certify these results. A comparative study of white athletes would be very interesting.