• cardiac procedures and therapy

Pre-participation screening of athletes mostly has focused on identifying those at increased risk of sudden cardiac death. However, screening also offers an opportunity for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. In a large cohort of young (age 13–35 years) athletes, Hedman and colleagues1 looked at the prevalence of hypertension as defined by US/European guidelines and the associations between blood pressure (BP) and left ventricular (LV) remodelling in these subjects. Overall, 34.3% of athletes had a BP that exceeded US hypertension thresholds. Independent correlates of BP were male sex, body mass index and height. In the subset of subjects with ECG data, systolic BP was independently associated with a higher LV mass/volume ratio and with slower early diastolic relaxation. The relationship between mean systolic BP, age and specific sports is shown in figure 1.