What question did this study set out to answer?

March 17, 2023Journal of Cardiovascular MedicineOpen Access

Echocardiography in the preparticipation screening: an old topic revisited

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Why the study?

Preparticipation screenings aim to prevent sudden cardiac death, but the additional role of echocardiography in identifying cardiovascular abnormalities undetected by standard protocols remained to be evaluated.

Does the addition of echocardiography to standard preparticipation screening improve the detection of cardiovascular abnormalities in adults?

Key Points

To evaluate the diagnostic yield of adding transthoracic echocardiography to standard preparticipation screening for detecting previously unrecognized cardiovascular abnormalities.
Retrospectively analyzed 500 individuals (420 male, mean age 33.69 ± 7.9 years) evaluated between 2017 and 2022 from a corporate wellness database.
Compared a standard screening protocol (medical history, physical examination, electrocardiogram, and exercise stress testing) against an advanced protocol including transthoracic echocardiography.
Standard preparticipation screening identified no cardiovascular abnormalities in 339 of 500 patients (67.8%).
Among the 339 patients with normal standard screenings, advanced echocardiography revealed cardiovascular abnormalities in 31 individuals (9.1%), including bicuspid aortic valve, aortic root ectasia, mitral valve prolapse, and patent foramen ovale.

Structured PICO

Does the addition of echocardiography to standard preparticipation screening improve the detection of cardiovascular abnormalities in adults?

Population

500 patients (420 male, mean age 33.69 ± 7.9 years) enrolled for the first time in a corporate wellness program between 2017 and 2022, selected from an initial sample size of 7500.

Intervention

'Advanced' preparticipation screening comprising history, physical examination, electrocardiogram, exercise stress testing, and echocardiography.

Comparator

'Standard' preparticipation screening including medical history, physical examination, electrocardiogram, and exercise stress testing.

Outcome

Identification of cardiovascular abnormalities undetected by commonly used preparticipation screening.surrogate

Adding routine echocardiography to standard preparticipation screening identifies structural cardiovascular abnormalities in approximately 9% of individuals who have a normal standard evaluation.

Discussion

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Implication

Echocardiography may detect ~10% more abnormalities in athlete screening; leaves open whether routine addition improves outcomes.

Cite This Study

Donati et al. (2023) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a7387913800ec2ea6a72e0d https://doi.org/10.2459/jcm.0000000000001460

Topics

Echocardiography Sports cardiology

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Bookmark

Echocardiography in the preparticipation screening: an old topic revisited

Key Points

Structured PICO

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

Topics

Echocardiography in the preparticipation screening: an old topic revisited

Key Points

Structured PICO

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

Also Consider

Topics

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