Conclusion
Our findings suggest that standard ECG is limited in its ability to
identify the condition. In our sample, the prevalence of abnormal ECG
among participants with HCM detected during screening echocardiography
was less than 25%. This suggests that even in the presence of normal
ECG findings, there is value in additional workup for HCM via
echocardiography and CMR imaging to comprehensively rule out the
condition. It is especially important to conduct comprehensive screening
among high-level athletes, as these individuals are at increased risk
for SCD.
Limitation:
We evaluate volunteers in high schools with a relatively young
population. Therefore, our results may not be accurate for the older
population. Echocardiographic measurements are body habit dependent and
a hand-held echocardiography has limited accuracy in a participant with
poor window. Furthermore, other causes of increased left ventricular
thickness such as hypertension or infiltrative diseases could be
excluded limiting our results.