While some video games get your heart racing, a new study has warned that video games can actually trigger heart problems in some children.
Researchers from the University of Sydney have highlighted three recent cases in which young children have suffered cardiac incidents , as a result of playing games.
In the first case, detailed in the New England Journal of Medicine, a 10-year-old boy suddenly lost consciousness after winning the a war game at home.
While he soon came around, the boy later experienced a heart attack at school due to an unknown condition called ventricular fibrillation, in which the hear quivers, rather than beating properly.
In the second case, a 15-year-old boy, who had previously had heart surgery, fainted as he was about to win a video game.
He was then diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia, a heart rhythm disorder in which the heart beats faster than normal.
Finally, in the third case, an 11-year-old boy collapsed while ‘animatedly playing an electronic war game with a friend’, according to the report.
He was then diagnosed with long-QT syndrome - a hear condition that causes irregular heartbeats.
While all three children had underlying heart conditions, the researchers suggest that the intensity of playing games may have triggered the problems.
Speaking to Live Science , Dr Ronald Kanter, a cardiologist at Nicklau Children’s Hospital in Miami, who wasn’t involved int he study, said: “Anything that causes a sudden surge of the body's stress hormone adrenaline can put vulnerable patients at risk of going into a dangerous heart rhythm.”
