1 in 5 NBA players have heart scans that appear abnormal, study reveals

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A fifth of today’s basketball stars have abnormal hearts scans, according to the most detailed assessment of the NBA’s heart health to date.

Basketball players are 30 times more likely than any other athlete to suffer a sudden cardiac death and few seven-footers live to their 90s.

This new research by NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University – including data on every player in the professional basketball league in 2014 – is an attempt to understand why.

They found abnormalities on an electrocardiogram are particularly common among tall African American players in the second half of their career, such as 32-year-old six-foot-eight LeBron James, 29-year-old Kevin Durant – who is seven feet tall – and 28-year-old James Harden, who is six-foot-five.

These findings do not necessarily mean basketball is dangerous for the heart: once the researchers cross-referenced their scans with an ultrasound, they found a lot of these abnormalities were relatively ‘normal’ and harmless for the players.

But they said it shows NBA stars needs their own unique type of heart assessments to monitor their health – especially as we stay stronger for longer, meaning players could enjoy much lengthier careers. 

f709b35e0574c2578b36c68e52581ac3 1 in 5 NBA players have heart scans that appear abnormal, study reveals

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