Resumption of sport and exercise during Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The preparticipation screening and cardiovascular fitness evaluation

In late December 2019 the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in China has led to a pandemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), with the involvement of European countries, especially Italy as a first epicenter. An electronic search has been carried out on Pubmed - Medline, to retrieve academic articles concerning the preparticipation screening of athletes to resume sport activities after the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, available guidelines on the topic have been retrieved and analyzed. The Italian authority, in line with the public health interventions all over the world, decided the suspension of all collective sport training sessions and competitions, allowing only individual training with adequate social distancing (at least 2 meters). After pandemic, several protocols for the return to sport activities have been advocated. However, cardiovascular evaluation of the athlete should be taken into consideration along with positivity to SARS-CoV-2 nasopharyngeal swab testing. According to the current literature and to guidelines by the Italian Sports Medicine Federation (rederazione Medico Sportiva Italiana, FMSI), the authors propose some algorithms for a safe resumption of sport activities, either for general COVID-19 screening or for a thorough cardiovascular examination. Football players do not differ in general screening from other athletes, but specific guidelines and medical prescriptions have been provided by Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).