Heart of the matter
THE tragic death of PNG footballer Kato Ottio (CP, 10/1) should strike a note of concern to all young sports people.
Every now and then, it is reported in news outlets of a young athlete collapsing and dying on the sports field. More often than not, these terrible incidents are misreported as heart attacks or under-reported as heart “issues”.
The usual culprit is a congenital heart condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or HCM for short. While the cause of Kato’s death could be heatstroke, there is a possibility that HCM may be the cause.
HCM affects 1 in 200 people in Aus- tralia such as myself and, while most sufferers can manage the disease and lead relatively normal lives, there is a risk of sudden death associated with extreme physical exertion such as you would experience on the sports field.
The clinical symptoms can be hard to detect and therefore it is important to visit a cardiologist, especially if you are in your teens and 20s and play sport. LIndsay Ross, Freshwater