[thelettere]

If there's been such heart damage to athletes that caught it, how come they all are invariably coming back to the same exact performance they had previously? Is there such a thing as damage to the heart that has no effect on performance, particularly the incredibly demanding kinds of performances that sports like professional basketball require?

[reggedtorespond]

They haven't all. Look up Asia Durr if you want an anecdote. #2 draft pick for WBNA and hasn't played since her rookie season due to long haul covid effects.

I am not aware of any study on covid in athletes in particular, though.

[thelettere]

Huh, you've got to reach to the WNBA to find someone. Kinda proves my point.

Edit: And to all the wonderful people who no doubt checked themselves to make sure they had expertise on the subject before they downvoted my question (!), here's some food for thought:

A 2021 study of 789 professional athletes found that only 5 (0.6%) had heart inflammation. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/...

Another study found that COVID in athletes was rarely serious: "The severity of COVID-19 in elite athletes is predominantly mild and without complications. Athletes can return to sport after two symptom-free weeks and additional heart screening is usually not required." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S144024402...

2021 review of 12 studies: "Athletes have an overall low risk of SARS-CoV-2 pericardial/myocardial involvement, arrhythmias and SCA/SCD." https://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/7/4/e001164.abstract

2022 editorial review: "Most importantly, to date, there have been no acute adverse cardiac events reported as a direct consequence of COVID-19 infection in the athletes included in these large registries" and noted that the few smaller studies that deviated from these findings were badly designed. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8730531/

2022 study: "These data add to the growing body of the literature and agree with larger cohorts that the risk of cardiac involvement post-infection appears to be low among elite athletic and semi-professional athletic populations." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8791243/

2022 letter: "Several elite professional athletes tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. A few reports of persistent and residual symptoms of infections emerged. However, peak athletic performance in elite athletes did not seem to be affected, with some athletes recording historical performances both in the weeks following as well as several months after contracting the novel coronavirus.... These findings raise further awareness about the importance of performing regular physical activity and maintaining a favourable body composition and overall fitness, and emphasise the need for public health initiatives and actions to promote a healthy lifestyle on a population level." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S14402...

The idea - however appealing to Americans and apparently hackers - that everyone is on an equal playing field of risk is absolute nonsense.

[throwawaycities]

> Edit: And to all the wonderful people who no doubt checked themselves to make sure they had expertise on the subject before they downvoted my question (!), here's some food for thought:

My original comment specifically highlights that the studies are split, but you are cherry-picking articles that support an argument you are trying to make that athletes aren’t suffering from heart inflammation.

Moreover, based on your initial question to my comment, you don’t even seem to be aware that heart inflammation isn’t necessarily going to effect performance, rather it presents potential longterm and acute risks of a negative outcome to the athletes, and you are specifically citing athlete performance as evidence athletes aren’t suffering from heart inflammation.

All things being equal it is probably better to be a young athlete with heart inflammation than to live a sedentary lifestyle and be obese with heart inflammation for purposes of health outcome, but I think you are confounding risk of having heart inflammation with risk of negative outcomes from heart inflammation. As research and studies continue it could very well be the risk of heart inflammation is in fact equal among the populace, while negative outcomes will be unequal, ultimately this is still going to drive up negative outcomes across the board.

[thelettere]

How am I cherry-picking when I included several reviews? Find one review that concludes the opposite (or that such studies are "split" as you say) and perhaps you'll have an argument.

"based on your initial question to my comment, you are specifically citing athlete performance as evidence athletes aren’t suffering from heart inflammation"

How did I "cite" that in a question? That WAS my question, the answer to which I found myself.

[tremon]

Some cyclists even survive cancer, and then come back to a higher level of performance than they had previously. Does that mean there is such a thing as a cancer that has a positive effect on athletic performance?

To keep on the topic of cyclists:

Tim DeClerq - out for months after being diagnosed with pericarditis after Covid infection.

Sonny Colbrelli - suffered cardiac arrest yesterday after his race, two months after Covid infection.

[thelettere]

Again, the article is not about the immediate aftermath but one year later (i.e. long term effects). And Sonny Colbrelli was a freak incident - "All cardiac tests carried out last night showed no signs of concern or compromised functions." https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/mar/22/italian-cyclis...

[okaramian]

I think this post lacks an understanding of heart conditions. You can have an enlarged heart or other heart issues and still be a professional athlete. Ask Reggie Lewis. It took Jason Tatum many months to get back to some kind of playing condition after he contracted Covid, etc.

https://www.nbcsports.com/boston/celtics/celtics-star-jayson...

[thelettere]

Yeah and he just won eastern conference player of the month. Article makes it sound like he's at risk of any game now dropping down with a heart attack, which on the face of it is ridiculous.

Exceptions do not contradict the rule - athletes in high demanding sports rarely have heart problems, and the idea that they are at equal risk than the gen pop is laughable.

[alwillis]

But he only got back to being his pre-COVID self the last couple of months. Prior to that, he wasn't playing that well at all.

As a long time Celtics fan, there were games when he was close to normal and many other games where he just looked out of it.

Bottom line: he didn't just bounce back immediately after having Covid.

[thelettere]

The article is about "one year later" - not "immediately after".

[throwawaycities]

To your second question, yes, heart inflammation doesn’t mean they can’t participate, participate at a high level, or that the athlete even notices any issue. It means they have heart inflammation which carries associated risks both long term and acute. If you are looking for anecdotal evidence, there are plenty of athletes that talk about post covid struggles that include a range of issues impacting performance (i.e. reduced cardio, more labored breathing, brain fog).

[wolverine876]

> how come they all are invariably coming back to the same exact performance they had previously?

What is that based on? It wouldn't be hard to study, given the statistics already available.