Statistics
Fast Facts: Young Athletes & Sudden cardiac Arrest SCA
In the United States, a young competitive athlete dies suddenly every three days.
Young athletes are more than twice as likely to experience SCD as young non-athletes.
Most victims are male (90%)
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the leading cardiovascular cause of SCD (36%) in young athletes.2 (HCM is a disease that causes thickening of the heart muscle.)
More than half of HCM sudden death victims are black athletes (52%).
The average age when SCD occurs in young athletes is 17.5 years.
The risk of SCD increases with age.
More than two thirds of young athletes who die suddenly are basketball and football players (67%).
*All statistics are cited from Boston Scientific Corporation .