MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Researchers analyzing the potential impact of controversial young athlete ECG screening initiatives warn that the "staggering costs" could have a huge impact on the U.S. healthcare system.
The per-patient cost of ECG in the U.S. was estimated at $263 and about 8.5 million athletes would be eligible for screening each year.
The program would results in about 170 million screenings over a period of 2 decades, possibly saving around 4813 lives, based on mortality results from Italy, which has had a young athlete screening program since 1982, heartwire reported.
The formula suggests a $10.6 million to $14.4 million price tag on each life saved through the preventive screening program.
"Given the limited resources available to healthcare in the United States and the limited lifesaving potential of ECG screening, it is clear that mandating such a program, rather than applying it selectively, is likely to hinder the penetration of other preventive measures for cardiac-arrest victims," according to researchers, who published their work in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
In an accompanying editorial Italian sports medicine physician Dr. Antonio Pelliccia called the researchers calculus "simplistic and misleading," heartwire reported.
"The rationale to implement a mandatory screening program, which conveys an obligatory cost to citizens participating in sport, is based on the widely accepted perception that individuals engaged in competitive sport are exposed to an increased risk and, for this reason, deserve greater public attention," writes Pelliccia. "Screening athletes, therefore, is not seen in Italy as a discriminatory policy targeting a subset of our population, but as an expression of our attitude for preventive medical programs, which are widely accepted."
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