The Nigerian Cardiac Society has cautioned Nigerians against getting overly excited during the AFCON final match between the Nigerian Super Eagles and the Elephants of Côte d’Ivoire set for today in Abidjan.
The association, however, cautioned that sports and other emotional events might cause arrhythmias, heart attacks, and strokes in people who have underlying cardiac issues. They explained that many risk factors are common among Nigerians and are often inadequately managed. Defining sudden death, they said:
“Sudden cardiac death can be defined as death resulting from abrupt loss of cardiac function with or without previous heart disease unexpected within one hour of onset of symptoms.
About 50 percent of all deaths from heart diseases are sudden regardless of the etiology.
It has also been shown that 89 percent of all sudden cardiac deaths occur outside the hospital and less than 40 percent are witnessed.”
According to the experts, the reasons for sudden death are as diverse as their presentations, including complications of hypertension, heart attack, stroke, heart failure, cardiomyopathies, valvular abnormalities, and pulmonary thromboembolism, among others.
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