Why Have Many Young People Had Cardiac Arrests and Heart Attacks in Recent Years?

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What should have been a joyous occasion became tragic after football player Damar Hamlin fell to the ground during the first quarter of a recent game. Spectators watched in horror as Hamlin was given CPR and defibrillation on the field.

Hamlin is one of several high-profile young people to suffer from heart problems seemingly at random in recent years.

The phenomenon has already been noted by many medical professionals and researchers, and a recent study seems to confirm that the amount of people suffering from heart problems in their 30s and 40s is on the rise. 

While some would say COVID-19 and its vaccines may explain the uptick in incidents, other research has focused on lifestyle factors and underlying health problems.

Thankfully Hamlin was released from the hospital on Jan. 9, but what exactly happened to him?

According to a statement released by the Buffalo Bills, Hamlin suffered from cardiac arrest, meaning his heart went into a rhythm that didn’t allow it to pump blood to the rest of his body. These types of heart rhythms that don’t support life are known as lethal rhythms.

There are two types of lethal rhythms: ventricular fibrillation, where the ventricles of the heart quiver and shake instead of pump, and ventricular tachycardia, where the heart beats so fast, there isn’t enough time for it to fill with blood.

What Causes Cardiac Arrest?

What exactly happened to cause Hamlin’s heart to go haywire is still being examined by physicians. However, several experts suspect that it is a condition known as commotio cordis.

Commotio cordis occurs when an object impacts the left side of a person’s chest directly over their heart at the very second that the heart is relaxing and filling with blood. The impact causes the ventricles to contract instead of fill with blood, and the sudden muscle contraction throws the heart out of sync and into a quiver.

Video of Hamlin appears to show the 24-year-old safety take a hit to the chest from the shoulder of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins.

“Usually the blow to the chest is an object, like a baseball, or puck, or cricket ball, but any sudden forceful trauma to the chest can trigger cardiac arrest,” said Dr. Chris Semsarian, a professor of medicine at the University of Sydney who has been researching commotio cordis and cardiac arrest for more than a decade, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

However, there are other known causes of sudden cardiac arrest that could be considered. These include defects of the heart’s structure or abnormal heart rhythms, many of which the person is born with.

Other Athletes Have Suffered Similar Issues

Hamlin is unfortunately one of a long list of young athletes who have recently suffered sudden cardiac arrest in recent years.

A notable example is Danish soccer player Christian Eriksen, who, during a game against Finland in May 2021, collapsed as he was about to receive the ball.

Eriksen was also given CPR on the field and made a full recovery, coming back to score for his country during a game in 2022. And while the midfielder now plays his club soccer at Manchester United, he now also carries a small defibrillator in his chest wherever he goes.

Fabrice Muamba, an English soccer player, suffered a similar incident in 2012, although he never returned to the pitch as a result of his injuries.

Researchers examined the phenomenon in a 2019 study published in the Journal of Atrial Fibrillation that found that most athletes under 35 who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest did so due to a condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which means a thickening of the heart muscle.

What About Heart Attacks?

Although often used interchangeably, heart attack and cardiac arrest are not the same.

A heart attack is a blockage preventing blood from flowing to the heart. Without oxygenated blood, the heart muscle quickly begins to die.

If not addressed, a heart attack can cause cardiac arrests, but the two conditions are unique.

A good illustration of the difference is the case of professional basketball player Reggie Lewis, who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and ultimately died as a result in 1993 at the age of 27. Lewis, a first-round draft pick by the Boston Celtics, was in good physical shape when he died and an autopsy revealed his arteries to be clear of blockages, which is a common pathology of heart attacks.

Instead, pathologists discovered Lewis had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is normally caused by genetic abnormalities. Due to the presence of the abnormal heart muscle and the lack of evidence of any type of heart attack, the autopsy team concluded his cause of death was due to the enlarged heart muscle.

Heart Attacks Become Increasingly Common in Young People

Conventionally thought of as a disease that affects older people, researchers have noted an uptick in heart attacks in relatively young people since at least the year 2000, with the rate steadily climbing by about 2 percent per year between 2000 and 2016. They also found that out of those people who had heart attacks at age 50 or less, one in five was under the age of 40.

This same study also noted a higher rate of drug use, including cocaine and marijuana, among the younger participants: 17.9 percent versus 9.3 percent, respectively. However, the younger cohort reported less alcohol use.

Several known risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, tobacco use, and family history of heart disease were seen at the same rate in heart attack sufferers regardless of age. And researchers paid special attention to diabetes, noting that one out of every five people who had a heart attack under the age of 50 also had diabetes. Those with diabetes are twice as likely as their nondiabetic counterparts to have heart disease.
The COVID-19 pandemic is also thought to have played a role in the increase in heart attacks. Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center published research about the increase in 2022. They found that the number of heart attacks exceeded the predicted number during the first two years of the pandemic.

The biggest demographic increase was among those between the ages of 25 and 44. The researchers believe the increase is due to a combination of social stressors many people dealt with during the pandemic, such as job loss, loss of a loved one, and social isolation.

The COVID-19 infection itself is also thought to increase the likelihood of heart attack. This is primarily due to inflammation that the virus causes inside the body.

Other research published in Nature has examined the effects of the COVID vaccines and found an increase in the number of people diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome after being vaccinated.
Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome causes symptoms such as a rapid heart rate, dizziness, and fatigue when a person transitions from lying down to sitting or standing. The research reported that the risk for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome is five times higher for those who suffered from a COVID-19 infection compared to those who just received the vaccine.

It Takes One Minute to Learn CPR

What likely saved Hamlin was the early intervention of CPR and automated external defibrillation (AED). By giving Hamlin CPR, rescuers kept his blood circulating throughout his body by compressing his chest, allowing the small remaining amounts of oxygen in his bloodstream to reach the vital organs. The shock from the AED was able to reset his haywire heart and get it restored to a survivable beating tempo.
“Prompt CPR, as well as defibrillation, are the key determinants of survival, and if they survive the acute event, [the] outcome is very good,” said Semsarian. A recent study conducted in Scandinavia found that nearly two-thirds of all sudden cardiac arrest victims who were defibrillated before an ambulance arrived were still alive 30 days after the event.
Hamlin’s recovery looks promising, though he is still not being released home. His team, which rallied around him after his collapse, recently called on all football fans to learn CPR and how to operate an AED.
According to the American Red Cross, the proper way to give an adult CPR is to:
  • Place two hands centered on the chest, one over the other with fingers interlaced.
  • Push down and compress the chest with the base of the palm at least two inches deep at a rate of 100-120 compressions per minute. Ensure enough time between compressions to allow the heart to refill with blood.
  • After giving 30 compressions, open the patient’s airway and give two rescue breaths, ensuring the patient’s chest rises with each breath.
  • Continue the cycle of 30 compressions to two breaths until help arrives or an AED becomes available.
  • As soon as an AED becomes available, activate it and follow the prompts to deliver a shock, if one is advised.
Correction: The time period Hamlin collapsed on the field has been corrected. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Epoch Health welcomes professional discussion and friendly debate. To submit an opinion piece, please follow these guidelines and submit through our form here.
Joseph LaFave
Author
Joseph LaFave writes about health care for The Epoch Times. He is an award winning features writer and has covered both local and national news. Previously he was a hospital administrator and an EMT. He has a masters in health care management and a bachelors in criminology.
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