Cardiopulmonary issues in athletes

Abstract

In the care of athletes and active individuals, no clinical entities demand more vigilance from care providers than exercise-associated cardiac and pulmonary conditions. In recent years, the untimely deaths of many high-profile athletes from cardiopulmonary events have appropriately placed this group of disorders at the forefront of preparticipation screening programs; these events have also raised the level of aggressiveness with which sports practitioners have sought to identify and treat these potentially life-threatening disorders. As such, the sports medicine community is charged with the daunting responsibility of striking a delicate balance between the implementation of evidence-based screening programs, the skillful management of identified pathology in the face of continued sports participation, and the appropriate disqualification of athletes whose cardiopulmonary concerns dictate that continuation of sport is unsafe. As our understanding of these conditions expands through prospective research and retrospective analysis of adverse events, it is the duty of the sports medicine community to raise the standard of care for our active population and ensure the safety of athletes at all skill levels. This issue of the Clinics in Sports Medicine focuses on a review of the present knowledge and practice of cardiopulmonary care in active individuals. The contributing authors have sought to provide comprehensive coverage of cardiac and pulmonary concerns as they relate to athletic participation while reviewing the present literature on appropriate screening measures for these conditions. Because it is imperative to understand the fundamental cardiopulmonary adaptations that occur in active individuals, this issue contains articles dedicated to