BACKGROUND: Sudden death in athletes can occur during sport activities and is 
presumably related to ventricular arrhythmias. There are no guidelines 
concerning athletes who develop ventricular arrhythmias during an exercise test. 
It is unclear whether they should be allowed to continue with their competitive 
activity or not.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the long-term follow-up of athletes with ventricular 
arrhythmias during an exercise test.
METHODS: From a database of 56,462 athletes we identified 192 athletes, less 
than 35 years old, who had ventricular arrhythmias during an exercise test. 
Ninety athletes had > or = 3 ventricular premature beats (group A) and 102 
athletes had ventricular couplets or non-sustained ventricular tachycardia 
during an exercise test (group B). A control group of 92 athletes without 
ventricular arrhythmias was randomly selected from the database (group C).
RESULTS: All athletes, except one who died from a dilated cardiomyopathy, were 
alive during a follow-up period of 70 +/- 25 months. An abnormal echocardiogram 
was obtained in seven athletes from group A (10%), four from group B (5%), and 
one from group C (3%) (not significant). An abnormal echocardiogram was more 
likely to be present in competitive athletes (P = 0.001) and in female athletes 
(P = 0.01).
CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that ventricular arrhythmias during exercise are 
more commonly associated with cardiovascular abnormalities in young competitive 
athletes and in female athletes. When present, they necessitate a thorough 
investigation and follow-up.