Injury Prevention

Screening Athletes For Heart Conditions: Debate Continues

The death of young, seemingly healthy, athletes from undetected heart problems often generates considerable media attention and re-ignites the debate over the optimal approach to screening young competitive athletes for heart problems to minimize death from sudden cardiac arrest.

To Nineteen Athletes Dying Young

During the 2003 fall sports season, MomsTeam received numerous e-mails, phone calls and visits with news far exceeding our worst fears about the number of deaths in youth sports.

HCM and Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Athletes

About 50 young athletes go into sudden cardiac arrest each year and die from a rare congenital heart defect called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM ).   While some parent groups advocate for routine electrocardiogram (ECG) screening for youth athletes, sports administrator Donald Collins says attacking the HCM problem through education, by forming alliances between schools, leagues and sports governing bodies with medical organizations and by the taking of detailed family history during a young athlete's pre-participation physical evaluation is a cost-effective approach to early detection.  
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