sports cardiology sports cardiology sports cardiology is an emerging subspecialty field of cardiology. it may also be considered a subspecialty field of sports medicine (or sport & exercise medicine), or alternatively a hybrid subspecialty that spans cardiology and sports medicine. emergency medicine is another medical specialty that has some overlap with sports cardiology. sports cardiology is now considered to be a distinct subspecialty in europe and the usa, with a core curriculum developed in both regions. in europe it has traditionally been grouped under preventive cardiology, but the subspecialty of sports cardiology is now considered a distinct field. in the usa, it has developed from being a special interest area to a distinct subspecialty as well. sports cardiologya screening electrocardiogram being performed in a female athletesystemcardiovascularsignificant diseaseshypertrophic cardiomyopathy, wolff–parkinson–white syndrome, long qt syndrome, arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, sudden death (sport)significant testselectrophysiology study, cardiac imaging, ecg, echocardiograms, stress testspecialistsports cardiologist sports cardiology can be roughly divided into two areas itself: prevention of cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death in exercising individuals, including those with no known heart disease. the entails both primary prevention and acute response. management of athletes and other exercising individuals with known heart disease. the preventive aspect of sports cardiology aligns slightly more with the speciality of sports medicine (doctors who look after athletes and exercising people), acute response with emergency medicine, whereas the management of athletes with known heart disease is more aligned with the cardiology side of sports cardiology. sports cardiology as a cardiology subspecialty overlaps with electrophysiology, cardiac stress testing, echocardiography and other cardiac imaging, genetic testing, and cardiomyopathy. formal education for doctors is now available in sports cardiology, such as a masters degree in sports cardiology at st george's, university of london. sudden cardiac death in athletes main article: sudden cardiac death of athletes sudden cardiac death (scd) is a very rare event but particularly tragic affecting apparently healthy young or early middle-aged people. sudden cardiac death occurs in approximately one per 100,000 young athletes per year, generally in matches or training, but also occasionally at rest. common categories of sudden cardiac death causes are: cardiomyopathies conduction disorders coronary artery disease commotio cordis unknown causes, thought to possibly be related most often to myocarditis associated with viral illness cardiomyopathies and conduction diseases are responsible for the majority of sudden cardiac death in young athletes (< 30 years old), whereas coronary artery disease (often latent in a relatively young person) increases in risk with age and is by far the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in an athlete >35 years old. commotio cordis is less common but caused by an external force rather than an intrinsic abnormality of the heart. prevention of sudden cardiac death in athletes classification of sports for risk of sudden cardiac death sports have been classified into varying risks for sudden cardiac death for competitive athletes. sports with high static and dynamic forces are those that present the greatest risk, bearing in mind that for individual athletes playing in these sports the risks are still very small. rowing, cycling and basketball are amongst the sports with the highest annual risk. football (soccer) provides the highest number of young athletes who suffer cardiac arrest, being a medium risk sport that is played extensively worldwide. the risk is higher in male athletes than female athletes. screening of athletes to prevent sudden cardiac death