International Criteria for Reporting Study Quality for Sudden Cardiac Arrest/Death Tool

Area of Science:

• Sports Cardiology
• Epidemiology
• Research Methodology

Background:

• Studies on sudden cardiac arrest/death (SCA/D) incidence in athletes often lack methodological rigor.
• This deficiency impacts sports screening and preventative policies.
• No standardized tools exist for assessing the quality of SCA/D incidence studies in athletes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a tool for assessing the methodological quality of studies reporting SCA/D incidence in athletes.
• To provide a framework for evaluating and improving future research in this area.

Main Methods:

• A Delphi process involving 16 international sports cardiology experts was used.
• Experts iteratively voted and discussed domains until consensus was reached.
• The tool's interobserver agreement was assessed using κ analyses on 22 studies.

Main Results:

• The International Criteria for Reporting Study Quality for Sudden Cardiac Arrest/Death (IQ-SCA/D) tool was developed, comprising 8 domains and a maximum score of 22.
• Studies are categorized as low (≤11), intermediate (12-16), or high (≥17) quality.
• Substantial interrater agreement was achieved for summated scores and study categorization.

Conclusions:

• The IQ-SCA/D is an expert-validated tool for assessing study quality in athlete SCA/D research.
• It aids researchers, reviewers, and editors in contextualizing findings and improving future study design and reporting.
• The tool provides a framework to enhance the reliability and consistency of research on sudden cardiac events in athletes.