The researchers behind the study, from the Institute of Sport Medicine and Science of the Italian Olympic Committee in Rome, Italy, presented their findings at EuroPRevent 2015, the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation’s showcase congress.
“Even Olympic athletes,” says author Dr. Paulo Emilio Adami, “regardless of their superior physical performance and astonishing achievements, showed an unexpected large prevalence of cardiovascular abnormalities, including life-threatening conditions.”
Dr. Adami and colleagues examined 1,435 male and 919 female athletes with a mean age of 27.6 years, who underwent physical examination and echocardiography (ECG) between 2002 and 2014. The examinations comprised part of the athletes’ screening to compete in the Olympic games from 2004 onwards. Some of the athletes also received 24-hour ECG monitoring to confirm previous diagnoses. 
An unexpectedly high amount of the screened athletes – 171, or 7.3% – had either a structural or electrophysiological cardiovascular abnormality, the study revealed.