High-Risk Cardiovascular Conditions in Sports-Related Sudden Death: Prevalence in 5,169 Schoolchildren Screened via Cardiac Magnetic Resonance

Improving preparticipation screening of candidates for sports necessitates establishing the prevalence of high-risk cardiovascular conditions (hr-CVC) that predispose young people to sudden cardiac death (SCD). Our accurate, novel protocol chiefly involved the use of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) to estimate this prevalence. Middle and high school students from a general United States population were screened by means of questionnaires, resting electrocardiograms, and CMR to determine the prevalence of 3 types of hr-CVC: electrocardiographic abnormalities, cardiomyopathies, and anomalous coronary artery origin from the opposite sinus with intramural coronary course (ACAOS-IM). We examined the range of normal left ventricular size and function in the main study cohort (schoolchildren 11–14 yr old). We defined diagnostic criteria for hr-CVC and compared the cardiac measurements of these younger participants with those of older children whom we examined (age, 15–18 yr). From 5,169 completed diagnostic stu...