The sudden deaths of four schoolboys last week may be just a chance cluster of cases but is nonetheless worrying, the medical director of the Irish Heart Foundation said yesterday.
"If you take it that there are 70 to 120 sudden cardiac deaths a year in people under 35 years then this could simply be a cluster which occurs by chance," Dr Brian Maurer, a consultant cardiologist, said.
"In other words if the average is one to two a week then by the law of statistics you could occasionally have more than that in a week," he added.
Dr Maurer said one would have to see what happens over a longer period of six months to a year before one could say there was any definite increase in cases of sudden cardiac death in young people.
Dr Maurer was speaking after the sudden death of Patrick Devlin (13), a GAA enthusiast, who collapsed during a game of football on Saturday. He was training at the O'Donovan Rossa Club in Ardboe, Co Tyrone and was treated at the scene with a defibrillator. However, he was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.
His death followed that of 10-year-old Patrick Breen from Dregish, also in Co Tyrone, after football training on Tuesday.
Zeeshan Mohammed (16) collapsed and died in his school in Athlone, Co Westmeath, on Friday. Tony Parker (16) from Mount Temple, Moate, Co Westmeath, collapsed during class three days earlier.
Dr Maurer cautioned that he did not know the full facts in relation to the exact cause of death of each of the four schoolboys even though cardiac failure is suspected.
"But it's fair to say it is worrying. And if deaths were to continue to occur at this rate then one would have to consider whether there is something new happening," he said.
He found it "disturbing" that in this particular cluster all the deaths were in children.
"If this were occurring in people in their 20s or 30s then one might suspect drugs like cocaine were used because we are seeing a frightening increase in the number of heart attacks and deaths associated with cocaine use," he said.
The North's Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, said yesterday that more needs to be done to screen the health of young people at school and in sport.
"Given these tragic events it is proper that we look closely at the health and safety of our young children participating in sports to see if there is more that can be done to help sporting organisations monitor the health of our young people and respond quickly if any problems emerge."
The secretary of Ardboe GAA club, Ciarán Devlin, praised Patrick's commitment to the game: "He was so enthusiastic, he was so involved. He was just one of those boys who wanted to play football. He was bright and full of life and he had his own band of friends and they were very close."
Patrick's friends have been offered counselling after witnessing his death on the football pitch.