Authors' objectives: About 1 million young Belgians (14-34) are member of a sportsclub, and in addition, many others are practicing a sport outside the structure of a sport organization. As we all know, sport is very good for your health. But, unfortunately, but luckily very seldom, it can lead to a sudden death due to cardiac failure. The authorities already have made a lot of effort to limit the risk for sporters. But can we avoid this kind of shocking events by submitting young sporters, without heart complaints, to a systematic heart examination? And what would be the consequences of such a screening for the youngsters, their family, the sport organizations and society from a medical, economical and legal perspective? The authorities asked the Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE) to give an answer to these questions, based on objective, scientific evidence. You can find the results of their research in the present page.

Authors' recommendations: To the involved authorities, the responsible of the sports federations and the concerned physicians - Within the current available scientific knowledge, KCE recommends that no cardiovascular pre-participation screening should be requested in young, non-professional athletes by enrollment in a sports federations or sports mass event. After all not sufficient elements are available to presume that the trade-off between benefits and harms of such a screening would be beneficial. - This report does not concern screening in athletes older than 34 years neither on the usefulness of screening to prevent other sports injuries. KCE recommends that before guideline or regulations are developed on these topics, an indepedent evaluation of the benefits and harms should be performed. - The KCE recommends that indepedent and scientific underpinned information material should be developed on the potential benefits and harms of cardiovascular pre-participation screening. This information should be available for the athletes, the parents, the sports federations, the physicians, the physiotherapists and other involved care professionals

Project Status: Completed

Year Published: 2015

URL for published report: https://doi.org/10.57598/R241C

URL for additional information: https://kce.fgov.be/en/publications/all-reports/cardiovascular-pre-participation-screening-in-young-athletes

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Rapid Review

Country: Belgium

DOI: 10.57598/R241C

Organisation Name: Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre

Contact Address: Administrative Centre Botanique, Doorbuilding (10th floor), Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 55, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium tel: +32 2 287 33 88 fax: +32 2 287 33 85

Contact Name: info@kce.fgov.be

Contact Email: info@kce.fgov.be

Copyright: <p>Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE)</p>