Bronny James health update: LeBron’s son released from Los Angeles hospital after cardiac arrest

Bronny James, 18, is the eldest son of legendary basketball star LeBron James.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Mr James committed to playing basketball for the USC Trojans next season. He is expected to be drafted into the NBA in the future.

As the public becomes more aware of cardiac arrest incidents occurring in young, seemingly healthy, athletes some are wondering how these are possible.

According to the University of Washington’s Sports Institute, about 1 or 2 in every 100,000 young athletes experience a sudden cardiac arrest every year.

Men are at higher risk than women, Black men most of all, and the riskiest sports appear to be football and basketball. For male basketballers at the top level of US college sports, the risk is 20 per 100,000 each year.

In fact, sudden cardiac arrest is the leading medical cause of death for college athletes in the US, according to research from long before the Covid era.

According to an NCAA report in 2016, men’s basketball and football players account for 50 per cent of sudden cardiac deaths in the NCAA, despite making up only 23 per cent of all male NCAA athletes.

So, although scientists still don’t really know why these cardiac arrests are more common for young athletes, the fact that they are more common is well established.

Bronny James’ parents, LeBron and Savannah, issued a statement Tuesday thanking the University of South Carolina’s medical and athletic staff for saving him after the 18-year-old experienced cardiac arrest.

“LeBron and Savannah wish to publicly send their deepest thanks and appreciation to the USC medical and athletic staff for their incredible work and dedication to the safety of their athletes.”

“When it comes to Musk’s unsolicited and unsubstantiated theory, the data doesn’t suggest it is the most likely explanation. Developing myocarditis from a Covid-19 vaccine is rare. In fact, the American Heart Association published a 2022 analysis of nearly 43 million people which found that people are more likely to develop myocarditis from Covid-19 itself than from the vaccine.”

Ahmed Baba writes:

A recently released 911 audio recording has revealed that Bronny James, 18, needed CPR before being rushed to the hospital.

Once Mr James experienced cardiac arrest, a 911 call was placed around 9.25am. In the minutes it took an ambulance to arrive, Mr James lost consciousness.

Emergency medical staff expedited Mr James’ transportation calling a “Code three, lights and sirens” to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Mr James’ smooth recovery thus far indicates that the medical staff at USC knew to perform CPR in order to give Mr James the highest chance of survival.

NFL player Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest during a game on 2 January.

The Buffalo Bills safety collapsed on the field shortly after making a tackle during the clash with the Cincinnati Bengals at the Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati.

Rob Maaddi reports:

Cardiac arrest is “the sudden loss of all heart activity due to an irregular heart rhythm,” and is also referred to as sudden cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death, according to the Mayo Clinic. Cardiac arrest refers to when the heart stops completely, and the body no longer has blood or oxygen flow. If not treated immediately, the condition can lead to death.

The National Institute of Health attributes the cause of cardiac arrest to types of arrhythmias, irregular heartbeats that stop the blood from pumping through to the heart, with the main causes “ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia,” both types of arrhythmias.

If a person has had prior cardiac arrest, heart valve disease, arrhythmias caused by gene defects, congenital heart defects, or coronary heart disease, they are more at risk. Family history, smoking, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure, can put an individual at risk too.

A heart attack differs from sudden cardiac arrest, as a heart attack means blood flow to a specific part of the heart is blocked which has the potential to change the “heart’s electrical activity that leads to sudden cardiac arrest,” while sudden cardiac arrest isn’t a blockage, the Mayo Clinic notes. According to the NIH, sudden cardiac arrest typically causes the individual to become unconscious and stops their breathing.

A pair of cardiologists who did not treat Bronny James but are familiar with cardiac arrests spoke to the Los Angeles Times and offered their thoughts on his likely recovery.

They noted that Bronny’s removal from an intensive care unit within 24 hours of his cardiac event was “really promising.”

“Even for a young, healthy athlete, being out of the ICU already is pretty good,” Dr Cheng-Han Chen, medical director of Pacific Cardiovascular Associates Medical Group’s structural heart disease program in Southern California, told the LA Times.

After LeBron James’ son, Bronny, experienced cardiac arrest during basketball practice on Monday, the 18-year-old was rushed to the hospital where he received treatment.

Bronny, as of Tuesday morning, was out of the intensive care unit and in stable condition.

The James family thanked medical staff for acting quickly but since yesterday have not given any further updates.

Medical evidence gives us almost zero reason to link the young basketballer’s case to Covid-19 jabs.

Io Dodds reports: