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Young, apparently healthy athletes sometimes have abnormal electrocardiograms on initial workups that suggest structural heart disease. Are these athletes at risk for later cardiac disease and cardiac events? Investigators sought the answer in Italy, which mandates cardiovascular screening for participants in officially sanctioned sports.
From a database on more than 12,000 national-level athletes, investigators identified 81 who had marked repolarization abnormalities (T-wave inversion ≥2 mm in at least 3 leads exclusive of lead III) but no apparent cardiac disease after assessments of clinical, ECG, echocardiographic, and stress ECG data and who returned for serial evaluation. During a mean follow-up of 9 years, five athletes (6%) develope…