Determining the Incidence of Sudden Cardiac Death in the Young: The Orange County Experience

摘要

Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) among young athletes is a devastating tragedy that continues to occur. The sudden and unexpected death of such a young individual in apparently excellent physical fitness is a highly visible event that stimulates considerable concern among both the medical and lay communities. Though seemingly rare, media reports drawing attention to these events have raised the question of whether generalized screening of athletes should be implemented in the United States. This is because despite the best efforts by health care providers to identify the patients and families with cardiac conditions, pediatric sudden cardiac death still occurs.1 However, due to the lack of a national registry, there exists no organized database for tracking these events. As a result, the actual incidence of SCD among the pediatric population in the United States remains unknown.