The sudden death of any young individual is a tragic event that causes immeasurable damage to family lives. The sudden death of a young athlete from a cardiac disorder is particularly emotive and is often associated with considerable media coverage, drawing attention to the youth, the athletic prowess of the individual and the number of life years lost consequent to a cardiac disorder that could have been detected during life. Most exercise-related sudden cardiac deaths (SCDs) are attributed to congenital or hereditary cardiac disorders that are asymptomatic in most victims.1 2 Unsurprisingly, the death of a young athlete often galvanises urgent discussions relating to preparticipation cardiac screening involving members of the community, sports physicians and sporting governing bodies. There is considerable resistance to implementing widespread cardiac screening of athletes. The low incidence of deaths and the low prevalence rates of all implicated disorders challenge the cost efficacy of such a programme. Furthermore, there are concerns relating to the overlap between the physiological adaptation to exercise and the cardiac disease resulting in false-positive results and unnecessary anxiety or even disqualification of an athlete from future competitive sport
© Copyright 2011 British Journal of Sports Medicine. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd of the BMA. All rights reserved.