Screening for sudden cardiac death in the young: report from a national heart, lung, and blood institute working group

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) in the young (SCDY) has a devastating impact on families, care providers, and the community and attracts significant public and media attention.
In an effort to provide direction to determine what type of evidence is necessary and the best methodology to obtain such evidence, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) convened a Working Group meeting in April 2010 in Bethesda, MD. The charge of the Working Group was to develop a research agenda and identify resources to evaluate whether screening for SCDY would effectively reduce SCD and add overall healthcare value, where value was defined as improved clinical outcomes with an acceptable cost-benefit ratio. The Working Group consisted of experts in pediatric cardiology and electrophysiology, adult cardiology, epidemiology, biostatistics, sports medicine, child psychiatry, health economics, ethics, oncology screening, and newborn screening. The Working Group unanimously supported the development of a research agenda that would determine the best approach to reduce SCDY.