Sudden Cardiac Death in Young Athletes: Screening and Risk Indicators | Chapter 19 | New Frontiers in Medicine and Medical Research Vol. 3
Background: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) during physical activity in athletes is uncommon. SCD in a young athlete is a terrible event that is the biggest medical cause of death in this population. The exact prevalence of SCD in young athletes has been a source of contention, with studies reporting widely disparate rates (1:917,000 AYs to 1:3000 AYs) depending on the methodological design of the study or the demographic studied. The goal of this study was to assess the warning signals of SCD in young athletes and compare them to electrocardiographic data. Methods: This was a prospective case-control study comparing athletes to inactive people. Resting electrocardiography and the Sudden Cardiac Death Screening of Risk Factors (SCD-SOS) questionnaire were used. The overall number of participants was 898, with 589 (65.6%) in the case group (athletes) and 309 (34.4%) in the control group (sedentary). Athletes had considerably fewer fainting episodes (odds ratio 0.252, p0.001). There wer...