Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Young Athletes Dying

Two unusual and scary headlines on the same day. Both of these men were young, and both were high echelon professional athletes.

“Ravens outside linebacker Jaylon Ferguson died after authorities found him unresponsive late Tuesday in a North Baltimore home. He was 26.”

“Former Purdue standout Caleb Swanigan, who played three seasons in the NBA, died Monday night at age 25.”

Quite understandably whenever a young person dies unexpectedly, there is always an underlying suspicion that drugs, especially fentanyl, may somehow be involved.

(Among people under 30, fentanyl-involved deaths started climbing statewide in 2016. By 2019, it had surpassed other opioid categories of deaths among that age group, at the rate of 4 per 100,000. By 2020, fentanyl-involved deaths had doubled to 8 per 100,000 among people under 30.)

Since both of these headlines are hot off the press, info that drugs contributed to either of these deaths is not yet available. However, let’s assume for a second that drugs were not involved, could anything else be involved in this stunning coincidence of sudden death in two young people.

From Epoch Health:

“Media outlets around the world have started highlighting a medical phenomenon called ‘sudden adult death syndrome’(SADS) – young people dying with no sign of illness or underlying health condition. They simply collapse during the day or don’t wake up in the morning. While SADS has been known to occur before, what’s alarming is the sudden surge of this previously rare event.”

“Data compiled by the International Olympic Committee show 1,101 sudden deaths in athletes under age 35 between 1966 and 2004, giving us an average annual rate of 29, across all sports. Meanwhile, between March 2021 and March 2022 alone—a single year—at least 769 athletes have suffered cardiac arrest, collapse, and/or have died on the field, worldwide”

Still from Epoch Health:

“Among EU FIFA elite soccer athletes, sudden death increased by 420 percent in 2021. Historically, about five soccer players have died while playing the game each year. Between January and mid-November 2021, 21 FIFA players died from sudden death.”

“Among athletes, sudden death incidence has historically ranged between 1 in 40,000 and 1 in 80,000. An analysis of deaths among competitive athletes between 1980 and 2006 in the U.S. identified a total of 1,866 cases where an athlete either collapsed from cardiac arrest and/or died suddenly. That’s 1,866 cases occurring over a span of 27 years, giving us an annual average of 69 in the U.S.

Data compiled by the International Olympic Committee show 1,101 sudden deaths in athletes under age 35 between 1966 and 2004, giving us an average annual rate of 29 sudden deaths, across all sports. Meanwhile, between March 2021 and March 2022 alone — a single year — at least 769 athletes have suffered cardiac arrest, collapse, and/or have died on the field, worldwide.”

It certainly appears that “sudden death” in young people, including young athletes, has recently increased significantly. Some might ask, “Is there anything else that is significantly more than it was 2-3 years ago?”

Could Covid or the vaccine be involved?

An opinion piece in Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, published in April 2022, highlights the correlation between COVID vaccine-induced heart inflammation and sudden cardiac death in athletes:

“Increased COVID-related SCD [sudden cardiac death] appears to be due, at least in part, to a recent history of infection and/or vaccination that induces inflammatory and immune impairment that injures the heart.”

Hmmm! Food for thought.

6/27/22

www.californiacontrarian.com

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