Findings of ECG's on 270 Australian athletes: Using the European Cardiology society guidelines and a consensus model the further investigation rate was 3%

Introduction: ECG's in athletes have been recommended as a tool in assessing the suitability of the athlete to undertake sports participation with the goal of presenting Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD). Although SCD is rare it is currently considered that pre-participation ECG's may be useful in predicting the likelihood and thereby prevent SCD. Those athletes that do have positive ECG findings are, after further investigation, usually deemed safe to participate in sport. The purpose of this study was to undertake an ECG in a group of Australian athletes to determine the morphology of the ECG in comparison to other studies on overseas athletes. Then by using defined ECG criteria and a consensus model the further aim was to determine how many athletes warranted further investigation and then following this, if required, restrict ongoing sports participation. In this manner this is a first with respect to an Australian study.