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Report Says Screening for Heart Problems Would Save Lives of Young Athletes

by Rajashri on Sep 8 2009 9:23 PM

The increasing incidence of young athletes succumbing to undetected heart problems can be solved by screening them for the same, a new report has said.

New research says that doctors will be able to detect one athlete who should not play professional sport if they screen 143 people. One study said that 1 in 28,000 young people would succumb to sudden death meaning that it is a rare occurrence in sports persons.

One study from the University Medical Centre, Gronigen, the Netherlands involving 428 young university athletes said that 87% of the athletes were cleared to play immediately following screening and ECG tests. Some 2% had cardiovascular disease.

Another review by doctors at King's College Hospital, London said that when ECGs were read by experienced cardiologists, the false positive rate was just 2%.

Both studies appeared in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.


Source-Medindia
RAS


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