Researchers identify cause of heart block in athletes

Finding could help doctors monitor ‘heart rhythm disturbances’ in sportspeople, study’s first author says

Rory Sullivan
Thursday 24 June 2021 03:27 BST
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<p>Footballer Christian Eriksen has been fitted with a defibrillator implant after suffering a cardiac arrest on 12 June, 2021. </p>

Footballer Christian Eriksen has been fitted with a defibrillator implant after suffering a cardiac arrest on 12 June, 2021.

Researchers have worked out why some athletes experience heart block, after studying the effects of long-term exercise in mice and retired racehorses.

Scientists from Manchester, Montpellier and Copenhagen discovered that regular, intense exercise caused molecular changes in the animals’ atrioventricular (AV) node.

They spotted a reduction in key proteins called ion channels, which control conduction in this part of the heart.

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