According to ESPN’s Paula Lavigne, a recent study of Big Ten athletes found a higher rate of diagnosed myocarditis tied to COVID-19 than previously documented in a past study.
As part of a study published in JAMA Cardiology, researchers performed cardiac MRIs on 1,597 Big Ten athletes who had tested positive for COVID-19. Of that group, 37 had myocarditis, an inflammatory heart condition.
That percentage (2.3) is more than triple the rate from an April study for Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association. In that investigation, 21 of the 3,018 athletes (0.7 percent) showed signs of heart inflammation.
Prior to spreading to pandemic levels, COVID-19 was a novel virus which made medical professionals unsure as to its long-term effects on those who once carried it.
Dr. Lawrence Rink, a cardiologist who has worked as a team doctor at Indiana University for 40 years, also explained how the JAMA Cardiology study also raised questions about how to examine the possible risk of heart conditions such as myocarditis.
“Unfortunately, from our study we show that symptoms do not help us very much,” Rink said (via Lavigne). “I won’t say symptoms are of no value. But they did not pick up the majority of our cases of what we were calling myocarditis.”
After being diagnosed with myocarditis, Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez missed the entire 2020 MLB season.
The left-hander explained to the New York Times‘ James Wagner that before realizing he had COVID-19 or myocarditis, he “felt like I was 100 years old where you need help getting out of bed.” The 28-year-old also struggled to hold down any foods or fluids, which caused him to lose 20 pounds in 10 days.
Even if an athlete is not indicated for heart inflammation, the effects of COVID-19 can linger well after their symptoms subside.
Boston Celtics star Evan Fournier said this month he felt as though he was playing through a concussion at times after returning to the court last month. Celtics teammate Jayson Tatum revealed last month he was using an inhaler before games to open his lungs more after being diagnosed with the coronavirus in January.
Many long term effects are known to exist from having COVID-19. Long COVID is a range of symptoms that can last weeks or months after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 or can appear weeks after infection.
Long COVID can happen to anyone who has had COVID-19, even if the illness was mild, or they had no symptoms. People with long COVID report experiencing different combinations of the following symptoms:
Multiorgan effects can affect most, if not all, body systems including heart, lung, kidney, skin, and brain functions. Multiorgan effects can also include conditions that occur after COVID-19, like multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS) and autoimmune conditions. MIS is a condition where different body parts can become swollen. Autoimmune conditions happen when your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake, causing painful swelling in the affected parts of the body.
It is unknown how long multiorgan system effects might last and whether the effects could lead to chronic health conditions.
The conditions that athletes are experiencing are similar to those listed above, but are occurring with increased intensity to the heart muscle, lungs and other organs.
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