Elizabeth Vickers Saarel, Ian Law, Charles I. Berul, Michael J. Ackerman, Ronald J. Kanter, Shubhayan Sanatani, Mitchell I. Cohen, Stuart Berger, Peter S. Fischbach, David A. Burton, James Dziura, Cynthia Brandt, Laura Simone, Fangyong Li, Brian Olshansky, David S. Cannom, Rachel J. Lampert

ABSTRACT: The potential dangers of young patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) participating in sports are unknown. This post hoc analysis assessed 129 athletes aged ≤21 years from the ICD Sports Registry, a prospective, multinational registry designed to determine the incidence of serious adverse events because of sports, with ICDs involved in competitive sports. Shocks and lead malfunction related to competition and practice occur in college and high school athletes with ICDs; however, there were no serious adverse sequelae and the rates are similar to an unselected pediatric ICD population.

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