The decline in the death rate started after mandatory screening was started and persisted to the late screening period. Compared with the pre-screening period (1979 1981), the relative risk of sudden cardiovascular death was 44 percent lower in the early screening period (1982 1992) and 79 percent lower in the late screening period (1993 2004). Most of the reduced death rate was due to fewer cases of sudden death from cardiomyopathies (disorder of the heart muscle). During the study period, 2 percent of the athletes were disqualified from competition due to cardiovascular causes.
"All these findings suggest that screening athletes for cardiomyopathies is a life-saving strategy and that 12-lead ECG is a sensitive and powerful tool for identification and risk stratification of athletes with cardiomyopathies," the authors write. "These data demonstrate the benefit of the current Italian screening program and have important implications for implementing screening strategies for prevention of sudden death in athletes in other countries."
(JAMA. 2006;296:1593-1601. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org.)
Editor's Note: This study was funded by the Veneto Region, Cardiocerebrovascular Pathology Registry, Venice, Italy; a European Commission research contract; the Ministry of Health, Rome; and Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo, Padova, Italy. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and s
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Contact: Gaetano Thiene
gaetano.thiene@unipd.it
JAMA and Archives Journals
3-Oct-2006