Regular EKG testing a matter of life and death for children?

Each year in the United States, many children fall victim to cardiac arrest. In fact about 7,000 young people in America die from this preventable disease every year.

When a doctor uses EKG Machines to test patients it can serve as a valuable alert that something is wrong, but children are rarely tested on such devices. In many cases, a simple EKG screening could have saved their lives.

Doctors are challenged with the task of predicting heart disease among adults, even when they have a lot of symptoms. But sadly, when it comes to children, often the first visible symptom of heart problems is a serious or fatal collapse.

While some coronary artery abnormalities cannot be found using an EKG machine, the truth is that the most common fatal heart problem of young people – cardiomyopathy – is easy to spot. Using EKG Machines can significantly decreases the number of heart-related deaths among our youth. Even testing for such problems as heart arrhythmia can be the difference between life and death in many cases.

A new push to implement EKG testing among 6 to 18-year-olds is being championed by many nationally known organizations. These include the Cardiac Arrhythmia Syndromes Foundation (CAS) and the American Heart Association and many pediatric health advocates across the nation.

With so many young people dying needlessly from preventable heart conditions, many parents are opting to have their children screened. When a simple test can be administered using EKG Machines at a local hospital or doctor’s office, parents should consider making this potentially life-changing decision to get children screened early and often.