Competitive sports for children and adolescents: should an electrocardiogram be required in the pre-participation physical examination?The growing number of children and adolescents, aged 7 to 17 years, that participate in competitive sports requires preventive medical care. The pre-participation physical examination (PPE) requires appropriate medical knowledge to insure safe medical clearance. Recent sudden death events related to sports practice have raised doubts concerning the need for a medical evaluation based on medical tests, which due to the delay in its implementation may result in demotivation and abandonment of the sports practice. This is a review study, including data collected during a period of 30 years at the Olympic Training and Research Center (COTP) of the Municipal Secretary of Sports of São Paulo, where future athletes are identified, socially included and trained; and the objective of the study was to evaluate the need for the involvement of medical organizations in the preparation of a EPP protocol for the cardiovascular assessment of this population, according to the Brazilian reality. We had no normative standard, and so we relied on data collected from protocols that were established by other countries, but we defined which conduct to be taken with each of our individuals.
Sports; child; adolescent; medical care; medical examination