Sudden death in young adults
I keep tripping across a newspaper article dated 20.8.2002 from The Times (health section page 12, if anyone has their Newspapers on CD).I had heard of a young girl dying on the sports field when my boys were young and until I read this article I was unaware that youngsters taking part in sport were at risk.The web site I have attached at the bottom is an organisation set up to advise on sudden death.The article is quite long so I will pick a few bits out of it to repeat here - I hope that they are in context."Sudden death Syndrome claims up to 8 young victims every week in the UK."Sporty youngsters who put stress on their heart are most at risk if they have an underlying heart problem."The main cause of SDS is hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and abnormal thickening of the heart muscle which research shows is present in 1 in 500 people."Health campaigners believe that electrocardiogram testing of teenagers can detect up to 97% of heart muscle disorders."This summer (as date of article) the first testing of state school pupils took place during a pilot project in the Western Isles where 300 teenagers, aged 14 to 18 were tested. 13 were then followed up with echocardiograms and ultra-sound scans. On average 4 % of those screened need further investigation. "Dr Sanjay Sharma said 2Having dealt with the bereaved relatives and seen the pain they go through, I believe it is our duty to try and convince the Government that EEG screening should be available to all adolescents before they leave school. It is quick and simple and can reveal underlying problems with the heart.It then goes on to say that in Italy they have established a link between sports and SDS and it is mandatory there for all children participating in representative sport, including schoolchildren, to have YEARLY cardiac screening. I asked my Dr about screening for my teens and he arranged for and EEG to be done at our practice.http://www.c-r-y.org.uk/
Sarah Felstead ● 7393d1 Comments