LeBron James is on an ’emotional rollercoaster’ after Bronny’s cardiac arrest at 18 as doctor points to a likely cause

BRONNY James' cardiac arrest was likely caused by a specific type of arrhythmia, an irregularity in the heart that can often go undetected and has become an increasing threat against young athletes in the last decade, a cardiologist has revealed.

Three parents of other teenagers who suffered similar heart-related events to the 18-year-old basketball star have also come forward to share their stories with The U.S. Sun, calling for reform and insisting the James family will be in the midst of an "emotional rollercoaster" right now.

Bronny James, the eldest son of NBA legend LeBron James, suffered sudden cardiac arrest during a workout session at the University of Southern California on Monday morning.

In a statement on Tuesday, the James family said medical staff were able to treat the teen onsite before he was transferred to the hospital.

"He is now in a stable condition and no longer in ICU," the family stated. "We ask for respect and privacy for the James family and we will update media when there is more information."

While little else is known about what happened, Dr. Richard Kovacs, a cardiologist with IU Health, told The U.S. Sun it's likely Bronny's sudden cardiac arrest was triggered by an arrhythmia, which can be caused by a variety of factors.

Sudden cardiac arrest is often caused by an irregular heart rhythm called ventricular fibrillation.

Ventricular fibrillation occurs when a very fast heartbeat causes the lower heart chambers - or ventricles - to quiver uselessly instead of pumping blood.

Sudden cardiac arrest can also occur in people who have no known history of heart disease but a family history of coronary artery disease or other risk factors like diabetes.

Kovacs explained: "[An arrhythmia] can come from inherited cardiac disease, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or an inherited what we call channelopathies.

"It can come from acquired heart disease, such as inflammation of the heart muscle [...] but in the last decade, we're also seeing a shift toward cardiac arrhythmias that come without what we call structural heart disease.

"So in other words, we can't see anything abnormal structurally with the heart [on a scan], but the arrhythmia seems to come as the first event - and that may've been the case here."

We do know that collegiate level one basketball players in the US are some of the ones at the highest risk [of sudden cardiac arrest], perhaps at a rate of four in every 100,000.

Dr. Richard Kovacs

Kovacs added that sudden cardiac arrest is the number one cause of death among high school athletes in the US, accounting for around 75 percent of all students who died during exercise.

Statistics on how prevalent occurrences are among young competitors differ greatly depending on the research, however, incidents range from one in 40,000 to one in 80,000 per year.

But basketball players are at a disproportionate risk, according to Kovacs.

"The numbers vary, but we have better data for some sports, such as collegiate sports in the United States, and although Bronny was not yet an NCAA division one basketball player, he was about to be in a few months," he said.

"And we do know that collegiate level one basketball players in the U.S. are some of the ones at the highest risks, perhaps at a rate of four in every 100,000.

"That's an order of magnitude larger than it is for other sports. If you compare that to just all high school athletes in general, the risk of playing division one basketball is much, much higher."

While basketball players make up only around 4 percent of all male athletes in the National Collegiate Athletics Association, 20 percent of the NCAA’s sudden cardiac deaths happen in basketball players, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Male athletes are also significantly more likely to suffer a sudden cardiac death than women.

The rate of male athletes suffering a sudden cardiac death is one in 38,000 per year, compared with one in 122,000 for female athletes.

Dr. Kovacs added that, unfortunately, many of the symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest overlap with what many athletes feel whenever they're competing or training: Shortness of breath, a tightening feeling in their chest, and a very fast heartbeat.

Young athletes also routinely push themselves to the limits and will ignore potential warning signs through fear of being dropped or benched, he added, making incidents harder to prevent.

"We have to be realistic in that athletes want to compete, and if they view that complaining of being short of breath or complaining of chest pain is going to take them out of the game or the competition, that's counter often to their DNA, especially at the elite level.

"They want to push through because they want to compete. They want to do everything they can.

"So in my own practice, sometimes I'll face athletes who tend to minimize their symptoms so that they can stay on the court, in the pool, on the track, things like that.

"So there's a nuance to the questioning and we often have to treat them differently in that sense to how we would treat a non-athlete patient."

SUDDEN CARDIAC ARREST: NO. 1 STUDENT ATHLETE KILLER

A spokesperson for USC declined to comment or provide additional details regarding Bronny's condition, citing student privacy concerns.

The rising star announced in May that he would play college basketball for the USC Trojans, whose campus is less than two miles from the downtown arena of his father’s NBA team, the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Trojans had been holding offseason practices in preparation for a two-week European tour next month when Bronny collapsed on the court yesterday morning.