Arrhythmias & electrophysiologyDiagnostic or prognostic study

Cost-effectiveness and diagnostic accuracy of focused cardiac ultrasound in the pre-participation screening of athletes: the SPORT-FoCUS study

Eur J Prev CardiolPublished

  • Diagnostic accuracy study
  • prospective
  • cost-effectiveness analysis

Authors' conclusion

The implementation of FoCUS into the PPS allows to identify a significantly greater number of athletes at risk of SCD and markedly lowers the false negative rate. Furthermore, the incorporation of FoCUS into the screening process has shown to be cost-effective.

Study context

Population
Athletes undergoing pre-participation screening30 with sudden cardiac death (SCD)-associated condition
Participants
2,111 athletes
Comparison
Model A vs Model B vs Model C
Outcome
Diagnostic performance and cost-effectiveness of FoCUS in PPS for conditions associated with SCD

Performance

As reported in the abstract

Detection of cardiac conditions associated with SCD
Test or modelValueSensitivitySpecificityTotal screening costIncremental cost-effectiveness ratio
Model A3 events19%93%35.64 euros
Model B14 events58%93%87.68 euros135.62 euros
Model C13 events94%92%120.89 euros114.31

Original publication

Cost-effectiveness and diagnostic accuracy of focused cardiac ultrasound in the pre-participation screening of athletes: the SPORT-FoCUS study. Eur J Prev Cardiol. Published 5 September 2023. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwad287

Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it