Article Text
Abstract
Undetected cardiovascular abnormalities are a major cause of sudden death in young players. Currently we lack data on this field in Sri Lanka. This pilot study was conducted to identify the prevalence, the associated factors of cardiovascular disease among the adolescent players and the cardiovascular risks for participating in cricket. Research was conducted in three sports medicine clinics selected from the hospitals of three main provinces in the country including Western, Southern and Central provinces where sports medical officers conduct pre-participation medical screening of players and documented in Pre- participation Examination (PPE) forms. Study population consisted of adolescent players aged between 10 to 19y who attended same clinics for medical clearance prior to the cricket tournament. Physically challenged players were excluded. Sample was selected from March 2013 to August 2013. The sample size was 566. Convenient cluster sampling method was incorporated. Pre-testing was done which lead to the amendments in the Data extraction sheet. Secondary data were collected from the PPE forms from the clinics. A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted to determine the prevalence and the associated factors of cardiovascular disease: Prevalence of cardiovascular diseases among adolescent players in Sri Lanka according to our study was 1.5%. Most common cardiac abnormality was Mitral Valve Prolapse. Mitral Stenosis, Ventricular Septal Defect and Aortic Stenosis were other cardiac abnormalities detected. Important incidental finding of our study was a higher prevalence (5%) of bronchial asthma among adolescent players which was more than the cardiovascular disease. Properly conducted Pre-Participation screening reveals underlying cardiovascular disease and it may be used as a tool to identify cardiovascular risks for participation in cricket among adolescent players and hence reduce sudden cardiac death incidents.