Abstract

This editorial refers to ‘Major regional disparities in out-comes after sudden cardiac arrest during sports’†, by E. Marijon et al., on page 3632 and ‘Exercise-related out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the general population: inci-dence and prognosis’‡, by J. Berdowski et al., on page 3616 Exercise can trigger an acute cardiac event which may precipitate sudden cardiac arrest (SCA).1On the other hand, exercise is import-ant for physical fitness and prevention of cardiovascular disease,1 and themedical community should therefore inform the general public of the health benefits of sports and exercise.2 At the same time, the public are exposed to alarmistmassmedia coverageof athletes oror-dinary people collapsing during different sport activities, raising un-certainties, questions, and debate within communities. The worst possible consequence would be that the public abstain from physical exercise. It is therefore of utmost importance to document the