Did the Vaccine Lead to Bronny James' Cardiac Arrest?

This article is not meant to determine the root cause of Bronny James’ sudden cardiac arrest on Monday morning, it is simply to lay out a few of the more common causes of cardiac arrest in young athletes.

The information provided is based on decades of medical experience by our panel of former team physicians, including Dr. Jerry Hizon.

Despite speculation, there is no evidence his cardiac episode was related to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Pro Basketball Docs. 

Bronny's dad, LeBron James, is on the record saying he and his family are vaccinated against COVID-19. There was a slight increase in myocarditis seen in some patients after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, however there is a much more significant increase between illness (including COVID-19) and myocarditis.

That being said, a cause for Bronny James' collapse has not been publicly released and likely will not be until he is put through rigorous medical examination.  

There are three main causes of cardiac arrest in young athletes, according to the Pro Baseball Docs. They are hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, problems related to an anomalous coronary artery and electrical or signal anomalies like Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

Essentially, with the first cause there is a pump abnormality. With the second cause there is a problem with the “pipes” or the “watering system” and with the third cause there is an electrical anomaly.

The first one is the most common one and has a higher prevalence in young male athletes. Some studies have found that it is present in 1 in 50,000 young male athletes, especially in bigger or taller male athletes. There is also an epidemiologic predilection in young black males. This is one of the main reasons there are pre-participation physicals as a standard procedure in all pro sports.

Depending on the cause, it's not a guarantee that Bronny James' basketball career is over. The Pro Basketball Docs await more information before making that determination.

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