In children with undiagnosed heart rhythm disorders, playing video games can cause cardiac arrest, fatal in the worst case.
- Cardiac arrhythmia is a heart rate disorder.
- In bradycardia, the heart beats too slowly, and beats too fast in tachycardia.
- Heart rhythm disorders are constantly increasing in France.
Playing video games is a risk-free activity, except for people with heart problems. In a study published in Heart Rhythm, scientists have been interested in these particular cases. Their goal was to identify people at risk, but also “the nature of cardiac events” and “the type of game related to cardiac arrhythmia associated with electronic games“.
Video games: a danger in the event of undiagnosed heart problems
“Video games can be a serious risk for some children with heart rhythm disorderssays lead author Claire M. Lawley. They can be fatal in patients with predisposing but often previously unrecognized arrhythmias.”
With her team, she identified 22 cases of children having had a sudden loss of consciousness while playing video games. Scientists observe that multiplayer war games were the most frequent trigger. “Some children have died as a result of cardiac arrest”, say the authors. Subsequent diagnoses showed that all of these children had pre-existing heart conditions. “Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) and congenital long QT syndrome types 1 and 2 were the most common underlying causes.”they explain.
The stimulation caused by video games and the adrenaline associated with it can be the cause of the discomfort. “At the time of cardiac incidents, many patients were in a state of excitement, they had just won or lost games, or were in conflict with comrades“, they point out.
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“We already knew that some children have heart problems that can put them at risk when playing competitive sports, but we were shocked to find that some patients had fatal memory loss while playing video games.“, adds co-writer Christian Turner.
With this study, the team wishes to alert the scientific community to this unknown risk. Even if the phenomenon is still rare, they observe that it is spreading more and more. “Children who suddenly lose consciousness while playing electronic games should be seen by a cardiologist as this could be the first sign of a serious heart problem“, warns the main author of this study. This could also help to better identify heart problems in families.
The study pointed to the presence of genetic variants among the children, which may be a predictor of heart disease. “In some cases, the investigation of a child who lost consciousness during a video game led to the diagnosis of many family members and the avoidance of a major heart rhythm problem.“, point out the authors.
