RT Book, Section A1 Bashore, Thomas M. A1 Granger, Christopher B. A1 Jackson, Kevin P. A1 Patel, Manesh R. A2 Papadakis, Maxine A. A2 McPhee, Stephen J. A2 Rabow, Michael W. A2 McQuaid, Kenneth R. SR Print(0) ID 1184696660 T1 Cardiovascular Screening of Athletes T2 Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2022 YR 2022 FD 2022 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781264269389 LK accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1184696660 RD 2024/03/29 AB The sudden death of a competitive athlete inevitably becomes an occasion for local, if not national, publicity. On each occasion, the public and the medical community ask whether such events could be prevented by more careful or complete screening. Although each event is tragic, it must be appreciated that there are approximately 5 million competitive athletes at the high school level or above in any given year in the United States. The number of cardiac deaths occurring during athletic participation is unknown but estimates at the high school level range from one in 100,000 to one in 300,000 participants. Death rates among more mature athletes increase as the prevalence of CAD rises. These numbers highlight the problem of how best to screen individual participants. Even an inexpensive test such as an ECG would generate an enormous cost if required of all athletes, and it is likely that only a few at-risk individuals would be detected. Echocardiography, either as a routine test or as a follow-up examination for abnormal ECGs, would be prohibitively expensive except for the elite professional athlete. Thus, the most feasible approach is that of a careful medical history and cardiac examination performed by personnel aware of the conditions responsible for most sudden deaths in competitive athletes.