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DALLAS, May 10, 2021 — In a small study, researchers found college athletes who contracted COVID-19 rarely had cardiac complications. Most had mild COVID symptoms that did not require treatment, and in a small percentage of those with abnormal cardiac testing, there was no evidence of heart damage on special imaging tests. All athletes returned to sports without any health concerns, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal
Circulation.
In spring 2020, concerns about heart damage, especially inflammation, among athletes with COVID-19 led to recommendations for cardiac screening based on symptom severity before resuming training and competition. The preferred diagnostic test for heart inflammation is an MRI of the heart, or cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. The American College of Cardiology’s Sports & Exercise Cardiology Council’s standard recommendations, issued in May 2020, do not advise cardiac MRI as an initial screening test based on COVID symptoms alone, so researchers investigated if symptom severity was associated with heart inflammation or poor recovery after COVID-19.