A Systematic Review of Post-COVID Electrocardiographic Changes in Young Athletes.

Post-coronavirus disease (COVID) syndrome involves the presentation of various new, returning, or ongoing symptoms, more than four weeks after COVID-19 infection. Post-infectious myocarditis is a potential sequela, associated with greater arrhythmogenic potential. Thus, it is an outcome that should be considered in athletes. An undiagnosed heart condition associated with adrenergic stimulus caused by high-intensity exercises can lead to sudden cardiac death. Electrocardiography (ECG) plays a role in cardiac screening for potential cardiac changes associated with myocarditis. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of electrocardiographic alterations in athletes during the post-COVID period. A systematic review of longitudinal observational studies in the PubMed, LILACS, and CENTRAL databases that evaluated athletes in the post-COVID period with ECG was performed. A total of four articles involving 5371 patients were included in the analysis. The athletes mostly presented with mild asymptomatic or symptomatic COVID-19. A low prevalence of electrocardiographic alterations suggestive of cardiac involvement by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was identified in this population. Electrocardiographic abnormalities indicative of myocarditis are uncommon in young athletes throughout the post-COVID era. However, anomalies that may signify and need further cardiovascular testing were found.

Puberal and Adolescent Horse Riders' Fitness during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Effects of Training Restrictions on Health-Related and Functional Motor Abilities.

The aim of the study was to analyse the fitness level of young horse riders before and after 12 weeks of training restrictions instituted due to the COVID-19 emergency. Anthropometrical measure assessment and an eight-items fitness test battery were administered to 61 puberal and adolescent female amateur horse riders. Subjects were evaluated within 3 weeks before (pre-tests) the period of training restrictions and on the first day of normal training after it (post-tests). Post-test results showed significant increases in body weight (Z: -1.732; p value: 0.001; ES: -0.157) and BMI (F: 9.918; p value: 0.003; ES: 0.146), whilst the performance in hand grip and abdominal strength, hip mobility, and 10 × 5 m Shuttle and Cooper 12 min tests' outcomes significantly decreased (F: 29.779; p value: 0.001 F: 29.779; p value: 0.001 F: 29.779; p value: 0.001 F: 29.779; p value: 0.001 F: 29.779; p value: 0.001, respectively). Correlation analysis revealed that riders' experience was significantly correlated with hand grip (p < 0.01), leg strength (p < 0.01), hip mobility (p < 0.05), and 5 × 10 m Shuttle (p < 0.01) and the Cooper 12 min (p < 0.01) test results. It could be suggested that equestrian activities could produce a higher fitness level in puberal and adolescent riders, whilst home-based, unsupervised, and unattentively planned training during the twelve weeks of training restrictions might be insufficient to maintain it.

Contextual Factors Influencing Young Athletes' Decision to Do Physical Activity and Choose a Sports' Club: The Case of Portugal.

Physical activity and sports are a central part of individuals' lives throughout the life cycle. During adolescence, its regular practice may contribute to the development of healthy adult lifestyles, decreasing chronic disease incidence. Therefore, the reasons that drive adolescents to start practicing sports in a certain club may be multiple and understanding such causes can be important to design and implement public policies to promote active lifestyles for everyone. In this article, we report the core findings of a research on why young athletes do sports, how they choose their team-training club and how COVID-19 has had an impact on their routines. From a methodological viewpoint, a questionnaire was developed and sent to sport clubs located in NUTS2 Centro Region, Portugal, and results were analyzed through the use of geographic information systems and statistical analysis, namely association tests (Chi-square test), difference tests (Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test), logistic regression and descriptive analysis. Findings show that family, age group, friends, proximity to sports facilities, teammates, and club conditions are the factors that influence adolescents the most. In short, external factors have a significant preponderance to practice physical activity and choose a sports' club. These findings can provide useful insights for clubs, coaches and policy-makers to become more aware of the relationship between sports practice and accessibility to sports halls, as well as the athletes' behavior and their connection with the club and basketball practice. As such, these findings can motivate the design of initiatives and strategies to boost sports practice and to find ways for clubs to attract more adolescents.