Table 1.

Summary of major differences between US and European guidelines for sports participation for athletes with cardiovascular diseases. Adapted with permission from Elsevier.³³

	36th Bethesda Conference	European Society of Cardiology
Gene carriers without phenotypea	All sports	Only recreational sports
Long QT syndrome	> 0.47 seconds in men > 0.48 seconds in women Low-intensity competitive sports	> 0.44 seconds in men > 0.46 seconds in women Only recreational sports
Marfan syndrome	If aortic root < 40 mm, no mitral regurgitation, no familial sudden death, then low- to moderate-intensity competitive sports permitted	Only recreational sports
Asymptomatic Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome	Electrophysiologic study not mandatory All competitive sports, with restriction for sports in dangerous environmentsb	Electrophysiologic study mandatory All competitive sports, with restriction for sports in dangerous environmentsb
Premature ventricular complexes	All competitive sports, when no increase in premature ventricular complexes or symptoms occur with exercise	All competitive sports, when no increase in premature ventricular complexes or symptoms occur with exercise, or when couplets with short R-R interval are present
Nonsustained ventricular tachycardia	If no cardiovascular disease, all competitive sports If cardiovascular disease, only low-intensity competitive sports	If no cardiovascular disease, all competitive sports If cardiovascular disease, only recreational sports

^aHypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, ion channel diseases (long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome, catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia).

^bSports in dangerous environments are restricted, given the risk should impaired consciousness occur, such as motor sports, rock climbing, and downhill skiing.