Paralympic sports have attracted the interest of the scientific community as a consequence of the diversity of situations found in such athletes. However, there still is a scarcity of information about clinical and physiological parameters of disabled athletes. This study describes the electrocardiographic characteristics observed in the athletes of Brazilian team that participated in the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. 60 subjects were evaluated, 10 female and 50 male. All of them were submitted to an anamnesis and a physical examination, followed by a rest electrocardiogram (ECG), an exercise test (ET), and when needed, they were also submitted to an echocardiography (ECOC). According to the ECG results, subjects were classified as normal ECG (N = 31), athlete ECG (N = 26) or altered ECG (N = 3). No abnormalities were observed on ET. The three subjects who showed altered ECG were referred to ECOC, which was normal in all three cases.
Electrocardiography; Athlete; Exercise test; Disabled sports; Paralympic games; Disabled persons
