Health Concerns for Young Athletes More Than Just Concussions

Monday, May 13th, 2013

The number one killer of young athletes is not concussion- or head injury-related, a group of youth sports safety advocates announced at a recent conference in Washington, DC.  Instead, sudden cardiac arrest, typically brought on by a pre-existing, detectable condition that could have been treated, is the culprit in most sports-related deaths. Another lethal threat is heat stroke, which is considered to be completely preventable.  The New York Times reports on the findings, and how safety advocates are trying to raise awareness of these risks:

Concussions are receiving attention nationwide, but death from a blow to the head is exceedingly rare. In contrast, a young athlete dies from a cardiac incident once every three days in the United States, researchers say. In hot months like August, heat stroke often causes the death of a young athlete every other day on average.

“Concussion victims almost always get a second chance,” said Laura Friend, an attendee at the Washington summit whose 12-year-old daughter, Sarah, died of sudden cardiac arrest while swimming at a Texas community pool in 2004. “When your heart fails from something that could have been treated — which happens all the time — you don’t have another chance. As someone told me, sudden cardiac arrest is not rare; surviving it is.”

Heat stroke, also known as exertional heat illness, has been a focus of sports safety advocates because of simple, common-sense preventive measures, like introducing gradual levels of exercise at the beginning of a sports season in hot temperatures.

“When my son died, people treated it as a freak thing,” said Rhonda Fincher, whose 13-year-old son, Kendrick, died in 1995 from heat stroke sustained during a season-opening football practice in northwestern Arkansas. “The ignorance was unacceptable because, unfortunately, it is not infrequent. And we should all know that.

“No healthy child should be sent off to a routine practice and die from it.”

Leaders of youth sports acknowledge that concussions have long been overlooked and that the injury deserves a period of heightened awareness, especially because of the potential for long-term consequences. But as the focus of the February conference organized by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association suggests, there is a mounting worry that more hazardous health concerns are being disregarded because of the intense emphasis on brain injuries.

A sudden heart-related death is “so incredibly tragic and stunning that people aren’t comfortable putting it into the everyday conversation,” said Dr. Jonathan Drezner, the president of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.

“I do wish, to some extent, it was something people talked more about,” Drezner added, “because we are getting to a place where we could prevent many of these deaths.”

Image: Girl with soccer ball, via Shutterstock

Faith-Healing Couple’s Second Child Dies, Charges May Be Filed

Wednesday, April 24th, 2013

A Pennsylvania couple who believes in the power of prayer to heal all illnesses–and refuses all forms of modern medical treatment–may be facing charges after their 8-month-old son died last week.  In 2009, Herbert and Catherine Schaible’s 2-year-old son died, an incident that resulted in the couple being sentenced to 10 years probation. More from NBC News:

Authorities have yet to file criminal charges in the death of the child last week, after he suffered with diarrhea and breathing problems for days. But charges could be filed once authorities pinpoint how the boy died. An official cause of death is pending an autopsy, according to police.

The child was taken to a funeral home by an as yet unknown individual and the undertaker alerted police, Russell said.

In 2010, a jury convicted the Schaibles, who have seven other children, of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment in Kent’s death from pneumonia. The Schaibles were sentenced to probation over prison time.

As part of their sentence, the Schaibles were required to arrange medical examinations for each of their children, to immediately consult with a doctor when a child became sick and to follow the doctor’s treatment recommendations.

Report: Accidents, Cancer, Homicide Among Top Killers of Kids

Monday, January 16th, 2012

The National Vital Statistics program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released its findings on causes of death in 2010, and for children, the findings may be surprising and alarming.

Pediatrician Aaron Carroll parsed the figures on his blog and revealed that accidents, especially car accidents, were the number one killer of children ages 1-14, claiming 1,339 kids’ lives in 2010.

Surprisingly high on the list was homicide, ranking as the number 3 cause of death among 1-4 year-olds, and the number 5 cause among 5-14-year-olds. Among this latter group, homicide was edged out by suicide, which claimed 273 5-14 year-olds in 2010.

Cancer ranked second among 5-14 year-olds and 4th among 1-4 year-olds.  Influenza was the sixth leading cause of death for 1-4 year-olds.

Carroll, who works in a children’s hospital, offered these insights into how health care providers can use this data:

I work in a children’s hospital, and I know legions of people who work every year to save kids lives. I think it’s one of the most worthy causes there is. But I rarely see massive campaigns and fund-raising drives to prevent assault and homicide. I don’t see many for suicide. I don’t see ribbons for safer cars. Yet these are the things that kill children in droves. More small children were killed in assaults than for all cancers combined. When you get into the 15-24 year old range, accidents (especially cars) are #1, homicide is #2, and suicide is #3.

Image: Police siren, via Shutterstock.