According to a recent study, male bodybuilders are at a significant risk of dying suddenly from heart problems. The European Heart Journal states that the bodybuilding community has to be more aware of the health hazards connected to professional bodybuilding and develop preventative measures.
Sudden cardiac death, which is uncommon in young people, is when someone passes away suddenly from a heart condition. But according to the latest study, a disproportionately high percentage of male bodybuilders, particularly young ones, die from the illness, with professional bodybuilders being the most at danger.
An international group of researchers searched for death reports among 20,286 male bodybuilders who had participated in at least one bodybuilding competition between 2005 and 2020 and had medical professionals confirm these findings.
They specifically searched five different languages for stories of any of these athletes’ deaths from various online sites, such as blogs, bodybuilding forums, social media, and official media reports. To determine the cause of death, reported deaths were then cross-referenced using several sources, confirmed, and examined by medical professionals.
Among the more than 20,000 professional bodybuilders, researchers discovered 121 deaths overall, with an average age of 45 at death. The study found that around 40% of these 121 deaths were due to cardiac causes. Scientists discovered that the risk of cardiac death was five times higher for professional bodybuilders than for amateurs.
The available autopsy findings of a few bodybuilders who passed away revealed evidence of heart and coronary artery thickening or enlargement.
