Abstract
Background: Children and
adolescents should be encouraged to participate in
sports ; however,
physicians should screen for cardiac
abnormalities that can
lead to
sudden death . The European Society of
Cardiology , the Brazilian Society of
Cardiology and the Brazilian Society of
Sports Medicine indicate performing an
electrocardiogram (
ECG ) in evaluating
athletes , while the
American Heart Association indicates complementary exams only when there is a personal or
family history of
cardiovascular diseases or changes in clinical examination.
Objectives: To evaluate the need for an
ECG in evaluating
children and
adolescents before starting
physical activities .
Methods: We recruited 983
children and
adolescents who practiced
physical activities for anthropometric assessment, clinical examination and conventional
ECG at
rest . Variables were analysed using the Goodman test with a significance level of 5%.
Results: Participants had a higher
incidence of
overweight ,
obesity and
severe obesity compared to standard
World Health Organization (
WHO ) values. The most common finding in clinical examination was
heart murmur (18.5% of participants). Electrocardiographic changes were found in 3.3% of participants, including
paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia and
pre-excitation syndrome , which may be responsible for
sudden death , even in asymptomatic individuals with no personal or
family history of
heart disease and no abnormality on clinical examination.
Conclusions: ECG revealed arrhythmias that were not detected by clinical examination and may precede
sudden death in individuals subjected to
physical exertion , indicating its
role in the assessment of
children and
adolescents before starting regular
physical exercise .