What would cause a young athlete, like Dani Jarque, to have a heart attack?

The headlines may have said "heart attack," but the article indicates that it was a cardiac arrest. A heart attack may lead to cardiac arrest, but not all cardiac arrests are the result of heart attacks. The most common direct cause of cardiac arrest is a breakdown of the heart's electrical system.

If the heart's natural pacemaker malfunctions, or if the orderly conduction of signals throughout the heart is disrupted, the regular, coordinated pumping action can be replaced by disorganized muscle contractions (ventricular fibrillation). Blood flow throughout the body stops, and death is inevitable unless the heart's normal beat can be restarted. Over 80% of cardiac arrests are the result of coronary artery disease, which can reduce blood flow to the heart and impair electrical conduction even without causing the usual symptoms of a heart attack.

Other possible causes include an enlarged heart, disease involving the heart valves, congenital heart disease, and abnormalities in the electrical system itself. The use of certain drugs can affect the heart's electrical system and increase the risk of sudden cardiac arrest. Finally, in some cases of cardiac arrest, the cause is never found.(There are still other causes, such as electrocution and sudden immersion in cold water, which can be ignored in this particular case.) The only way to find out why Dani Jarque's heart, or anyone else's, stopped suddenly is to perform a thorough autopsy, and even then the question might remain unanswered.

It would take extensive (and expensive) testing to identify many of the possible causes beforehand, and some at-risk individuals would still remain undiagnosed.

These heart attacks in apparently healthy young people are typically caused by congenital cardiovascular disease. The victim is born with this condition, but it is difficult to screen for and the person will usually not have any symptoms. In fact, athletes with this condition probably extend their lives by being fit and exercising vigorously on a regular basis.

Men are five times more likely than women to have this "silent heart disease" which culminates in what is called "nontraumatic sudden death. " One of the most famous cases of this tragic condition was the death of the author Jim Fixx. He wrote "The Complete Book of Running" and died while he was out on a run.

Fixx was the eiptome of a physically fit man and probably one of the last people anyone would expect to die of a heart attack. Despite these cases that get lots of media coverage, sudden nontraumatic death due to congenital heart disease is very rare.

The best answer would be because someone druged him or he trained to hard.

One possibility would be drug or steroid use. I have no evidence of him using any of that, but many top athletes use to perform better, and that might very well have induced the heart attack. To quote Wikipedia: " Other side effects can include alterations in the structure of the heart, such as enlargement and thickening of the left ventricle, which impairs its contraction and relaxation.

Possible effects of these alterations in the heart are hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, congestive heart failure, heart attacks, and sudden cardiac death. These changes are also seen in non-drug using athletes, but steroid use may accelerate this process. " However, much research has been performed on the exact cause of these cases, but they are for now inconclusive.. Edit: I just read somewhere that it could also have been a combination of (legal) painkillers and a small (undetected) heartproblem, or narrowed veins.

Genetics: I'm sure genes would have to do with it. If there are heart problems in the family, then I'm sure you'd have a higher chance of having heart problems...

There could be any number of reasons that this has happened. sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/12/051212... americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identi... heartdisease.about.com/od/palpitationsar....

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.