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Should all kids get screened for rare heart defect?
Should kids get EKG's to pick up rare heart conditions? That's the debate a national advocacy group is hoping to open up while it gives free screenings next week to hundreds of students in Hillsborough County.
As the story by our colleague Letitia Stein notes, Dr. Anne Curtis, USF's chief of cardiovascular disease, found perhaps one in 10 EKGs may pick up on something not perfectly normal. She could think of just one athlete who was told not to participate in sports in all her screenings.
"Probably the biggest debate about doing widespread screening is cost effectiveness," she said. "Does it make sense to screen many, many children to pick up a very rare occasional problem?"
In a private doctor's office, an EKG screening could cost $100 to $150, organizers estimated. They said the seven-school effort will cost about $250,000.
With health care costs a hot topic right now, the results of this widespread screening by the national Cardiac Arrhythmia Syndromes Foundation should end up being good fodder for debate about cost vs. benefit, since 100 student athletes a year drop dead from unknown heart issues.
-- Sharon Kennedy Wynne
Photo: SKIP O’ROURKE | Times
Technician Casey Yanson hooks up leads on Plant High student Connor Shimberg to show how easily an EKG can be performed. Young athletes suffer about 100 sudden deaths in the U.S. a year.
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THE AUTHORS
Sharon Kennedy Wynne has sunscreen in her blood. She may have been born in Buffalo but she got here as fast as she could, in time for kindergarten. She grew up in St. Petersburg, graduated from the University of Florida journalism school, and even got married at Sunken Gardens. She's one of the few adults we know who actually loves taking her kids to the beach. She has two sons and with 10 years of parenting under her belt, she's starting to feel a little less out of her league. She comes from a large family and loves to debate, so brace yourself when the hot topics come up.
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Freelance writer Courtney Cairns Pastor wasn’t so sure about having kids and how she would balance child-rearing with her journalism career. It turned out that her journalism training went to good use. As the mom to a funny, active toddler, she learned to handle him like she did her sources. Never ask yes or no questions (the answer will always be no), get him to be specific (are you crying because you’re wet or your tooth hurts?) and be prepared for anything because no two days are the same. When she’s not playing trucks, Courtney crams for her book club, trains for races and occasionally bursts into showtunes. E-mail her at 
Suzannah DiMarzio has it bad for the Mouse. Although she grew up outside of Boston, she took her degree in tourism management down to Orlando just to work at Disney and the travel industry. Of course, when she married her high school sweetheart, the reception was at Disney. She’s now a seasoned stay-at-home mom to two tweens and a toddler – and yes, that is as crazy as it sounds. Suzannah has her own blog, Comment Policy
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