Sports cardiology is a rapidly evolving subspecialty of cardiology, with a growing demand for expertise. To improve patient care, clinicians, patients, and athletes (recreational to elite) should be able to easily identify specialised care pathways, expertise centres and clinicians with sports cardiology expertise. To this purpose, several international societies and organisations recommend establishing a local and national sports cardiology infrastructure. We therefore aimed to establish The Netherlands Sports Cardiology Map. We conducted a web-based survey, which was published on the Netherlands Society of Cardiology home page (2019–2020) and in which each cardiology department or clinic was asked to provide information on sports cardiology expertise and the current infrastructure. Of the 46 respondent centres, 28 (61%) reported that they had expertise in sports cardiology, of which 22 (79%) had specific expertise in one or more specific types of sports. Integrated multidisciplinary meetings were reported by 43% of the centres (n = 12/28). Only two centres reported ongoing research projects that had been approved by an institutional review board. The Netherlands Sports Cardiology Map is an important step towards improving the existing infrastructure and developing network medicine for sports cardiology.

We conducted a web-based survey, which was published on the NVVC home page (2019–2020). In this survey, each cardiology department or clinic was asked to provide information on sports cardiology expertise and the current infrastructure. We collected data on specific fields of expertise, specific fields of interest and expertise in particular sports. Also, data on the presence of (formalised) collaborations with professional sports clubs or federations, organised (multidisciplinary) sports cardiology meetings or panels (with details of participating disciplines), and ongoing studies approved by an institutional review board (IRB) were collected. Finally, we collected data on (formalised) collaborations with sports physicians, sports federation physicians and NOC*NSF. All data were self-reported; no quality criteria were applied when listing centres of expertise. Based on the collected data, we designed a map with centres of expertise and a list of specific features per centre.

In total, 46 centres (52% of NVVC-registered cardiology departments or clinics) responded to the survey (1 centre located in Belgium). Twenty-eight centres (61%) reported that they had a specific outpatient clinic for sports cardiology or had one or more cardiologists with expertise in sports cardiology (Fig. 1). The majority (79%, n = 22/28) reported sports specific expertise, predominantly in soccer (71%), endurance sports/long distance running (32%), cycling (27%), speed skating (18%) or diving (18%). Collaborations with clubs or sports federations were reported by 79% of the centres (n = 22/28) and 14% (n = 4/28) reported a cardiology collaboration with NOC*NSF as so-called ‘High-Performance Partner’ of TeamNL; TeamNL comprises athletes who have been selected to represent the Netherlands internationally. Integrated multidisciplinary meetings on a regular basis were reported by 43% (n = 12/28), mostly attended by cardiologists and sports physicians only (58%) and less frequently by pulmonologists, radiologists or rehabilitation physicians. A small number of collaborating centres (n = 5/12) reported attending extensive meetings organised by the Amsterdam University Medical Centre (UMC), including participation of additional disciplines (genetics, molecular cardiology, paediatric cardiology, electrophysiology, cardiac imaging, nuclear medicine). Only two centres (Máxima Medical Centre and Amsterdam UMC) reported ongoing research projects that had been approved by an IRB (Tab. 1).