Braelen Bridges had finally made it. In 2021, after establishing his college basketball career at two smaller schools, he was set to play his very first game for the University of Georgia – the big leagues to many kids who, like Bridges, grow up in the Atlanta area.
But before Bridges could set foot on the court, he had to undergo the extensive cardiac screening program the school required for every student-athlete. What it found had him in shock.
He had an enlarged aorta, a condition that can be deadly if not treated.
“It really made me think about, like, stopping playing … just questioning if I want to play again,” Bridges said.
Recent high-profile cases of cardiac arrests in otherwise healthy Black athletes like Damar Hamlin and Bronny James have put a focus on thorough cardiac screenings for athletes, something that many experts have been emphasizing for years, especially in players like Bridges who fall into the highest-risk category.
LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 12: Vincent Iwuchukwu #3 of the USC Trojans looks on from the court in the first half against the Colorado Buffaloes at Galen Center on January 12, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images/File
Young Black male basketball players in the NCAA’s Division I have a 1 in 2,000 chance of sudden cardiac arrest, according to a 2020 study co-authored by Dr. Jonathan Drezner, director of University of Washington Medicine’s Center for Sports Cardiology, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
By comparison, their White counterparts have a 1 in 5,000 chance, according to the research.
It’s a statistic that Drezner thinks about a lot – it’s hard not to do so in the middle of March Madness – but what Drezner hopes is that all the players on the court have had extensive cardiac screening.
“There’s no excuse,” he said.
What screening looks like
Most athletes, even those in high school, will have a cardiac screening. It often involves collecting information about family history and conducting a basic physical exam.
The athlete might answer questions like, have you ever had tightness in your chest during exercise? Or, has any family member or relative died of heart problems?
The physical will measure things like blood pressure and pulse and listen for heart murmurs.
“Every athlete is undergoing cardiac screening. It’s just whether or not it’s done well. And so most kids just get this history and physical that basically doesn’t do much at all and has a very, very low chance of identifying the kid at risk,” Drezner said.
For one thing, athletes can have limited or misleading information about their family history, adds Dr. Fred Reifsteck, the UGA Athletic Department’s head team physician.
“Some people might say, ‘Well, I had a cousin who died in a car accident,’ or you know, some other accident, but it’s really cardiac-related.”
UGA’s cardiac screening program goes a step further. Since 1995, the university has included an electrocardiogram or ECG and an echocardiogram for all student-athletes as part of its pre-participation physical exam.