In the first year of the pandemic, we observed that approximately 12% of the players who played in the Paulista Football Federation tournaments were diagnosed with Covid-19. Until then, a world record. The bar was raised with the arrival of the Omicron. There was no security protocol capable of stopping the variant’s extraordinary transmission capacity, which wreaked havoc from the NBA to the Champions League.
At first glance, the athletes proved to be shielded from severe disease. However, reports of persistent symptoms and more serious events, such as myocarditis, grew. After all, what was the balance of Covid in the world of sport?
In search of answers, the Sport-Covid-19 Coalition — a consortium of Brazilian scientists dedicated to investigating the impact of the disease on athletes — conducted, perhaps, the most extensive review of the specialized literature, with enlightening findings. It should be noted that the article is still under peer review, but the dear reader deserves a straw.
43 studies were reviewed, which evaluated about 11,500 infected amateur and professional athletes. Of these, 90% were asymptomatic or had mild disease. Severe cases did not reach 1.5%, a figure lower than that found among young people in general.
Interestingly, we noticed that 8% of athletes had persistent symptoms – the so-called long Covid. Anosmia (loss of smell) and dysgeusia (distorted or reduced taste) were the most common complaints (approximately 30%), followed by cough (approximately 16%), fatigue (9%) and chest pain (approximately 8%). %).
Although they seem harmless at first glance, these lingering symptoms can represent a stumbling block for a high-level competitor. A study of British Olympic athletes revealed that 3% reported complaints three months after infection, likely harming them in the run-up to the Tokyo Games.
It is necessary to remember that in elite sport, minimal physical and mental discrepancies define who makes it to the podium or not.
As the disease usually manifests itself mildly in athletes, the return to sports practice has been increasingly shortened. The protocols of the NBA and the NFL – American basketball and American football leagues – have shortened the minimum period of isolation and resumption of training for players to five days.
After such a short period of recovery, a considerable portion of athletes who suffer from residual symptoms may not be fully able to compete at a high level.
A concern that transcends sports performance is the alleged heart damage caused by Covid. In this regard, however, the current data are more encouraging.
About 2.5% of infected athletes showed signs of inflammation of the heart muscle — so-called myocarditis and pericarditis. However, studies that had adequate comparisons (exams prior to infection or uninfected controls) were unable to establish a causal relationship between cardiac findings and Covid.
Although we have advanced in understanding the impact of Covid on sport, several questions remain: who are the athletes most susceptible to persistent symptoms?; to what extent do sequelae affect physical performance and general health?; what are the precautions to be taken for a safe return to sports practice?; Are vaccines and other medicines effective in preventing long-term Covid in this population?
From what is already known, however, with or without a history of athlete, Covid is far from being a gripezinha.
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