Ann Acad Med Singap
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Ann Acad Med Singap · May 2023
Comparative StudyComparison of four electrocardiographic criteria for the detection of cardiac abnormalities in Singapore athletes.
Sudden cardiac death in athletes is a rare occurrence, the most common cause being hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which increases the risk of sustained ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. Most of these young athletes are asymptomatic prior to the cardiac arrest. Several electrocardiogram criteria such as the European Society of Cardiology group 2 Criteria changes, Seattle Criteria, Refined Criteria, and most recently the 2017 International Criteria, have sought to improve the accuracy of identifying these at-risk athletes during pre-participation screening while minimising unnecessary investigations for the majority of athletes at low risk.We aimed to compare the above four criteria in our Singapore athlete population to identify which criterion performed the best in detecting cardiac abnormalities on echocardiography. ⋯ The latest 2017 International Criteria performed the best as it had the highest specificity and positive predictive value, joint highest negative predictive value, and lowest false positive rate.