Evaluate students who play sports for heart issues

My child is playing school sports. I get nervous thinking about students who have had heart attacks and died on the field. Is there any way to detect whether my son is prone to this?

Red flags can indicate a potential susceptibility to silent cardiac disorders in student athletes, says Dr. Kent Stephenson, a cardiac electrophysiologist at Huntington Hospital. "A young individual participating in competitive sports should have some kind of pre-participation evaluation," Stephenson says.

Most schools require a screening questionnaire, and Stephenson is working on a project to get all Long Island high schools to use a 12-question form endorsed by the American Heart Association. It asks questions such as: Do you have now or in the past a history of asthma or any condition leading to difficulty breathing? Have you ever felt dizzy, lightheaded or have you ever fainted during or after exercise? Have you ever been told that you have a heart murmur or has any family member or relative died of heart problems or sudden death?

If the answers raise flags, the child should be referred to a pediatrician for an EKG or other tests, Stephenson says, adding that studies show deaths occur more often in boys playing foot- ball and basketball. "There will be false positives," he says, "but for the one kid that's saved, it's well worth it. Student athletes die all the time. Not at a high frequency rate, but each tragic event is a significant event."