Cardiac screening and New Jersey student athletes
Greg Tufaro, staff writer for mycentraljersey.com details the deaths of two popular Middlesex County high school students due to Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM). Mr. Tufaro questions the fact that unlike their professional counterparts, scholastic student-athletes are not required to submit to cardiac screening.
“The NFL, NBA, and NHL provide cardiac screening in the form of an electrocardiogram and/or echocardiogram for all players, but high school sports programs nationwide require only that student-athletes complete a pre-participation form and undergo an annual physical” states Mr. Tufaro.
The families of two 17 year old seniors from Edison and South Brunswick who collapsed and died during track practice and while playing in a recreation basketball game, respectively, said they believe cardiac screening could have prevented both boy’s deaths.
This article went on to state that there is no screening programs in place, except one in Texas, Championship Hearts Foundation.
New Jersey is concerned enough to form a Student-Athlete Cardiac Screening Task Force to promote educational programs to help deal with these issues and concerns of HCM and other heart anomalies.
