EKGs not wise for every athlete

When Michigan high schooler Wes Leonard died last week on the basketball court, shock and sorrow were quickly followed by a desire to prevent more such tragedies. But most kids don't need to be rushed down to the doctor for tests.

Leonard collapsed after hitting a game-winning shot. The cause of death was cardiomyopathy, or an enlarged heart, and an electrocardiogram might have detected the problem and saved him.

Should one have been required? Such deaths occur in only one of every 200,000 young U.S. athletes, and the American College of Cardiology doesn't support requiring such tests.

Studies in nations that mandate such EKGs are inconclusive. In Israel, the requirement appears not to have reduced the incidence of cardiac arrest. In Italy, one in every 33,000 such tests found a potentially dangerous problem, and some lives may have been saved.

Schools should be required to inform athletes of cardiac risk. Scholastic athletes already must take physicals, and a 12-point screening created by the American Heart Association that looks at family history and searches for things like heart murmurs, now suggested, should be required. If it turns up red flags, an electrocardiogram is a logical next step.

But we don't need EKGs for all young athletes. Heart failure on the playing fields is devastating, but rare.