Awareness and education about cardiovascular events and sport are essential: Results of a French multicenter survey

Cardiovascular events occurring during physical activity are becoming a public health problem. Besides medical exams screening for cardiac abnormalities, better prevention could make such accidents less frequent. This study assessed the lack of awareness of cardiovascular risk factors and behaviors in the general sporting population. A survey was conducted by questionnaire in 3590 regular sports practitioners in 6 sport medicine centers. Among the 3590 practitioners, mean age was 30.7±16years, 71% were men, 9.5% were smokers, 5.5% had hypercholesterolemia, 4.4% had high blood pressure and 0.9% were diabetics. In subjects40years old, only 54% had undergone a pre-participation exercise test. Among the entire sample, 17% were not aware of the danger of smoking before and just after exercising, and 67%, 47% and 32% did not know the risks of training with fever, exercising in low or high temperature, respectively. The risks of doping, lack of warm-up or proper hydration were unknown to 22%, 2% and 3%, respectively. Finally, the need to report palpitation, dizziness and chest pain related to exercise was unknown to 18%, 7% and 11%, respectively. Recreational athletes had a higher correct response rate than competitive ones, especially those training