[TheEnigmaUK]

Even the young players are having heart issues, but why is this? And why footballers?

I train in boxing, and I personally believe that boxing is a more physically strenuous sport than football, especially the training. But you still don't hear about boxers collapsing from heart attacks, and if it does happen, it's very rare.

But there seems to be an issue with footballers dying from heart attacks. Why are footballers more affected by this?

I know it's probably heard about more, as there are probably hundreds of thousands of footballers in the UK, but it's still shocking to see so many footballers, especially young ones dying from heart attacks.

Your opinions?

[JollyGreenAtheist]

Perhaps there aren't significantly more, there's just a heavy media focus on it because football is more popular in the public eye?

[Drunk Punx]

Terrorists.

Or maybe they have some form of amphetamine problem that they obviously don't want the media to know about? I'm just speculating. I don't know how often football players are drug tested, so...

[Electronica]

There is no trend. Young people die from heart attacks every year, regardless of taking part in sport. Most of the time it is down to having an irregular heartbeat - a genetic condition - which causes blood clots to form easily.

[kog]

There's hardly an issue, two reported cases in the last month out of thousands of people who play football. But there are many factors that could have caused those heart attacks.

I `think`, don't quote me here, that there's more reported cases of heart attacks with obese/unhealthy people...

[Lorem Ipsum]

I can't be certain but I would suggest that football is a more widely played sport than boxing, thus making it statistically more likely for such rare diseases to affect footballers specifically. As in more people potentially at risk are playing football than boxing.

[Clare~Bear]

Footballs in the news more in general and people know the names of more footballers.

Sorry I don't know much about boxing. Football games are 90mins long, what about a typical boxing bout (I know they vary) ??? That might have something to do with it as if boxing matches are a lot shorter then the overall energy spent will probably be less.

[walterwhite123]

I'm not a medical expert, but recently read an article that said the constant exercise thickens the wall of the heart. Often this can go too far and cause heart problems. It could also be an underlying condition, many people in all walks of life have got a heart problem they may never know about until it's too late.

[Helenia]

(Original post by kog)
There's hardly an issue, two reported cases in the last month out of thousands of people who play football. But there are many factors that could have caused those heart attacks.

I `think`, don't quote me here, that there's more reported cases of heart attacks with obese/unhealthy people...

Different type of "heart attack." It's an unhelpful non-technical term.

Athletes of all different kinds can get cardiomyopathy and suffer arrhythmias (which is the problem most of these young people who collapse have). Football is just higher profile and has had a couple of cases clustered recently, so everyone's talking about it.

Boxing's not exactly a safe sport though...

[walterwhite123]

(Original post by Helenia)
Different type of "heart attack." It's an unhelpful non-technical term.

Athletes of all different kinds can get cardiomyopathy and suffer arrhythmias (which is the problem most of these young people who collapse have). Football is just higher profile and has had a couple of cases clustered recently, so everyone's talking about it.

Boxing's not exactly a safe sport though...

Correct. Fabrice Muamba had a cardiac arrest which is very different to a heart attack. It was a virtual miracle that he survived.