According to the latest scientific report released by the American Heart Association, a twelve-step screening process may facilitate the process of decreasing unexpected cardiac deaths in young athletes.
The rate of unexpected cardiac death in American high school-age athletes has been rather rare so far - about one in 200 000, according to one 12-year Minnesota research of 1.4 million young athletes participating in 27 sports disciplines. A lot of these deaths happen during football and basketball matches, which are high intensity sports with high levels of participation.
"Even though the incidence of these deaths in young athletes turns out to be rather low, it is more widespread than previously believed and does constitute a substantive public health problem," Dr Barry J. Maron, chair of the panel that wrote the modernized guidelines, said in a prepared statement.
The suggested screening process involves twelve questions regarding personal and family medical history and a physical exam. Healthcare professionals should ask questions concerning:
* chest pain/discomfort upon exertion;
* unexplained fainting or near-fainting;
* extreme and mysterious tiredness connected with physical activity;
* heart murmur;
* high blood pressure;
* at least one relative who died of heart disease (sudden/sudden or otherwise) before the age of 50;
* close relative under the age of fifty with disability from heart disease;
* detailed knowledge of certain cardiac conditions in family members: hypertrophic or dilated cardiomyopathy in which the heart cavity or wall becomes enlarged; "long QT syndrome" which influences negatively the heart’s electrical rhythm; Marfan syndrome, in which the walls of the heart’s main arteries are weakened; or clinically significant arrhythmias or heart rhythms.
The physical examination should notice:
* heart murmur;
* femoral pulses to exclude narrowing of the aorta;
* physical appearance of Marfan syndrome;
* brachial artery blood pressure (taken in a sitting position).
If any of the twelve screening elements yields a positive answer, the patient ought to be referred for further cardiovascular examination, the scientific statement informed.
