Bronny James, the son of NBA star LeBron James, suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday, and while it’s rare for children to have their heart stop beating suddenly, cardiologists say there’s an important message for parents in the 18-year-old’s quick recovery.
James, a first-year student at the University of Southern California and one of the nation’s top recruits last year, had to be rushed to the hospital during a basketball team workout on July 24, a James family spokesperson said in a statement to NBC News. He’s now in stable condition and no longer in the intensive care unit.
In the wake of the news, many are wondering what may have led to James’ sudden cardiac arrest — which kills about 200 children every year, Dr. Meghan E. Tozzi, pediatric cardiologist at Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital at Hackensack University Medical Center, tells TODAY.com. Cardiac arrest refers to when the heart stops beating suddenly.
Bronny James’ cardiac arrest: common causes in young people
The family has not publicly shared what caused Bronny James’ cardiac arrest.
Both Tozzi and Dr. Adam Kean, pediatric cardiologist at Riley Children’s Health in Indianapolis, tell TODAY.com that the No. 1 cause of sudden cardiac arrest in young athletes (and people overall) is a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is genetic, refers to when the heart grows “in a disorganized and thicker manner so that it is not able to function appropriately,” Kean explains. “It causes lethal arrhythmia in all people (and) tends to come about in athletes of all ages, but certainly young athletes.” It’s a condition that a person is born with but may go undiagnosed for years until a doctor notices that the heart muscle has developed abnormally.
An arrhythmia is “when the heart is beating in an out-of-control fashion so that the heart is unable to sustain the body in terms of what’s needed in order to be alert and properly support blood flow to our brains into our…
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