Death in Young Athletes Due to Blunt Trauma

A Study was conducted that hoped to define the clinical profile, epidemiology, and frequency of trauma-related sudden deaths in young athletes of the USA.

Sudden deaths of young competitive athletes are tragic and highly visible events especially, when considering the fact that the victims were very young and enjoyed great health.

The deaths of these young athletes had a profound effect on their families in particular and the community at large and always manages to draw a lot of media attention.

Heart Attack - Overview
Heart attack is the death of the heart muscle due to loss of blood supply. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Other names for heart attack include acute myocardial infarction, coronary thrombosis, and coronary occlusion.

The focus of attention has always been on cardiovascular causes and less on traumatic organ damage.

A study conducted by Mathew Thomas et al, hoped to define the clinical profile, epidemiology, and frequency of trauma-related sudden deaths in young athletes of the USA.

Information for the last 30 years (1980 -2009) was gathered from US national registry to evaluate the epidemiology and frequency of sudden deaths from trauma in children, adolescents, and young athletes(who were 21 years or younger at the time of death) and to compare these deaths with those caused by cardiovascular events during the same period.

Animation of heart attack symptoms
Heart attack can cause symptoms such as Chest pain or discomfort, Shortness of breath and pain in neck, back, arm, or shoulder and is due to blockage of blood supply to the heart muscles

Systematic identification and tracking strategies were employed in the study.

Sources -

How to Deal with a Stroke - Signs - Symptoms - Risk Factors - Prevention
Stroke is a brain attack, which occurs when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted. It affects all age groups; according to the WHO, 15 million people are affected by stroke annually.

• LexisNexis archival informational database

• News media accounts systematically assembled through Burrelle's Information Services

About 1 in 44,000 NCAA Athletes Succumb to Sudden Cardiac Death Each Year
About one in 44,000 National Collegiate Athletic Association athletes has sudden cardiac death each year, according to a new study in Circulation: Journal of the American

• Internet searches-access to online information via Web-based search engines (eg, Google, Yahoo)

• Reports from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (Washington, DC)

• Accumulated records of the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC)

• Direct reports to the registry and the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation Web site (US National Registry of Sudden Death in Athletes) (www.suddendeathathletes.org),

• Reports from high schools, colleges, medical examiners, and parents.

Results & Conclusion - Of the 1827 youths studied who were 21 or younger, 261 (14%) died due to bodily trauma and vital organ damage. At least 4 such deaths were reported in each of the 30 years.

The largest number of deaths were in football (148 [57%]). This also included 17 high school athletes who sustained concussions shortly before fatal head trauma (“second-impact syndrome”). These deaths could have been prevented if timely action was taken. Football deaths were noted to be most frequent among defensive players, although the single most common position involved was running back (61% of offensive players).

There has been increasing attention (including in the news media) on the risks in children and young adults from blunt trauma associated with a few competitive sports ( such as football) leading to non-fatal concussion injury, life-long disability, or even death. Notably, the study revealed that the frequency of deaths in athletes due to body trauma proved to be relatively low in comparison to cardiac events but a system of reporting such deaths could help in improving preventive strategies..

Source: Epidemiology of Sudden Death in Young, Competitive Athletes Due to Blunt Trauma; Mathew Thomas BS et al; Pediatrics 2011; 128:1 e1-e8

The full article is available at the following url
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/128/1/e1.full.pdf

Source-Medindia

Death in Young Athletes Due to Blunt Trauma - A 30 Year National Study

A Study was conducted that hoped to define the clinical profile, epidemiology, and frequency of trauma-related sudden deaths in young athletes of the USA.