Prevalence of mitral valvar prolapse in young athletes.
BACKGROUND
The prevalence of mitral valvar prolapse has been reported to be between 0.6 and 21%. The goal of our study was to evaluate its prevalence in young athletes who underwent hand-held echocardiography as a screening mostly in southern California.


METHODS
We retrospectively analyzed 1742 echocardiograms that were performed as a part of a cardiac screening of teenage athletes. The total prevalence of mitral valvar prolapse was calculated and stratified based on gender.


RESULTS
We screened a total of 1172 male and 570 female high school athletes. The echocardiographic prevalence of mitral valvar prolapse was 0.9%. The prevalence was similar in both genders, at 1.2% in male and 0.7% in female athletes.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of mitral valvar prolapse in young athletes mostly in southern California was found to be less than 1%, and was similar in both genders.
Hepner
Absalom D
AD
University of California, Irvine Medical Center, Orange, California, USA.
Morrell
Holly
H
Greaves
Seaneen
S
Greaves
Jeff
J
Movahed
Mohammad Reza
MR
D000293:Adolescent; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D008945:Mitral Valve Prolapse / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013177:Sports / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*