Mass EKG screening for athletes inadvisable, panel says

Doctors recommend testing only those with warning signs of cardiac problems

lines of an electrocardiogram

FROM THE HEART  The lines of an electrocardiogram like this one might help signal a danger of sudden cardiac death. But the test’s use in screening has been debated for more than a decade.

T.K. Rajab et al/J. Cardiothorac. Surg. 2010 (CC BY 2.0) 

Mass screening young athletes for hidden heart defects using electrocardiograms isn’t justified by the evidence, according to a scientific statement released September 15 by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology.