People who die suddenly after exercising less likely to have drugs in their system than for other sudden deaths

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-12-21 06:00

Australia; International; NSW; VIC

What does this mean?

Jump to: MultimediaAttachmentsExpert Reaction

People who die from sports-related sudden cardiac death are less likely to have drugs in their system than those who have a sudden cardiac death that isn't sports-related, according to Australian and international researchers. The team says it can be hard to pinpoint the cause of sudden cardiac death after exercise, so they compared the toxicology findings for 219 sports-related deaths and 2,970 other sudden cardiac deaths. The researchers say those who died after exercise were much less likely to have any drugs in their system - which includes everything from illicit drugs to basic painkillers. They say sports-related cardiac deaths mainly occur in younger men with a heart defect or disorder.