A heart health clinic has given 41 young athletes the green light to represent the Cayman Islands in sports, including football, swimming, cricket, netball, basketball and athletics.
A team from St. Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute joined staff at the Heart Health Centre last weekend to work with athletes aged between 13 and 19 years and assess their risk of sudden cardiac arrest.
Examinations included a comprehensive cardiovascular history and physical examination, an electrocardiogram and a 2D echocardiogram. Results showed four athletes had cardiovascular abnormalities with the most common being elevated blood pressure.
Cardiologist Dr. Mikhail Kosiborod said 34 percent of participants needed further testing but all were cleared to play sport after additional tests by the American Heart Association.
“These were abnormalities in different categories to what we found last year,” Dr. Kosiborod said. “These were all addressable issues. We did not find any that were life-threatening.”
He said no athletes were disqualified from competing.
Last year’s clinic tested 63 young athletes and found six with abnormalities, of which two were potentially life threatening. Both athletes underwent medical intervention before resuming training and competing.
The clinic is co-sponsored by the Ministry of Health and Cayman Heart Fund in response to the death of young athlete Gerome Graham less than two years ago from an undiagnosed heart enlargement.
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Thank you all who made this happen.