Experts and advocates are urging for heart screenings to be made available to young individuals to avert numerous potential tragedies.

In a heartbreaking incident from 2023, Clarissa Nicholls, a 20-year-old Cambridge University student and enthusiastic athlete, succumbed to an undiagnosed heart condition while hiking in southern France.

Clarissa suffered from arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, a disorder where the heart muscle is gradually replaced by fat and scar tissue. Experts suggest that such conditions can be detected through a straightforward test.

According to new research funded by Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), electrocardiograms have the potential to identify individuals at risk of sudden heart failure and could save hundreds of young lives annually.

In the UK, each week sees 12 individuals under the age of 35 unexpectedly passing away from undetected heart conditions, often during sleep and without any warning signs.

Groundbreaking research, the most extensive of its kind, indicates that regular heart screenings for the youth could significantly reduce the number of avoidable deaths by pinpointing those at risk and facilitating early intervention through medication or treatment.

Clarissa’s mother, Hilary Nichols, has spent the years following her daughter’s death campaigning for greater awareness of screening. 

She told The Times: ‘In this country, we routinely screen elite athletes, as well as army recruits and pilots. 

Clarissa Nicholls (pictured) was a Cambridge University student who suddenly died aged 20 from an undiagnosed heart condition

The charity, Clarissa’s Campaign, was started in her memory and raises money to have annual heart screenings in Cambridge and south east London

Clarissa’s mother, Hilary Nichols, has spent the years following her daughter’s death campaigning for greater awareness of screening

‘So, if screening is a requisite for elite athletes and army recruits, why should the wider population not have access to these privileges? This is about giving young people the ability to make informed choices.’ 

Research led by a team at City St George’s University in London analysed data from more than 104,000 young people aged 14 to 35, who had their hearts screened in a scheme funded by CRY. 

Shockingly, one in 300 were identified with heart conditions that could later have fatal consequences if left unmonitored and untreated. 

Four in 10 went on to receive significant interventions to ‘save their lives’, including implantable defibrillators, pacemakers, and two people had heart transplants. 

The published study is the most comprehensive examination of cardiac screening in the young to date and could make a nationwide screening programme for the young possible. 

Currently, only elite athletes in the UK are routinely screened for heart conditions by private sporting bodies, but the rest of the population is not due to popular belief that sprot exacerbates the dangers of hidden heart conditions. 

But this study has disproved this common myth – finding no significant difference between the risk of sudden cardiac death between athletes and non-athletes.  

Dr Steven Cox, the chief executive of Cry, told The Times: ‘This research has clearly demonstrated it is no longer a question of if screening saves lives, but now about how many lives screening saves and how to prevent more tragedies.’ 

One in every 250 people is thought to have a genetic heart condition, affecting a total of roughly 260,000 people in the UK. 

Clarissa’s Campaign was set up after Clarissa’s death and raises money for ECG Heart Screening days for young adults.  

The charity works with CRY, the NHS, and Clarissa’s family to raise money for an annual eight-day screening service in Cambridge and south east London, where Clarissa grew up. One screening day costs around £7,000.