A surprisingly high number of elite basketball players have heart abnormalities, according to researchers who analyzed data from hundreds of National Basketball Association players. They found that at least 15 percent of players may have heart problems.
Training for a sport at an elite level changes your heart, so a chart of the heart’s electrical activity, called an electrocardiogram (or EKG) for an athlete will be different than one for a non-athlete. As a result, it can be hard to tell if someone’s EKG looks different because of training or because there’s an underlying disorder that might be dangerous. In light of heart-related NBA deaths, coaches and scientists are keen to develop specific criteria that can make heart disease...
