Stars Back Philips Heart Research Project

Electronics brand Philips, in conjunction with UK charity Cardiac Risk in the
Young (CRY), has signed up a number of sport stars to support a new research
project which examines the effects of heavy and light exercise on the heart.

The 5-year Save Our Athletes Research project will involve collating data
from a number of elite athletes, including some in the US and Germany, and will
look to raise awareness of the simplicity of the screening process for people
who love sport, but have worries about their heart.

Launching the campaign are UK athletes including triple Olympic medal-winning
cyclist Rob Hayles, and swimmers Karen Pickering and Mark Foster.

The campaign has been launched following the results of research that
concludes there are 395,000 people in the UK who may have an undiagnosed heart
condition which could trigger sudden cardiac death, with 130,000 of those people
are under the age of 35.

The research showed that every week in the UK, an estimated eight apparently
healthy young people die from undiagnosed heart conditions with many of the
incidents occurring during exercise.