Sudden Death and Catastrophic Injury Reporting: A Call to Action for Athletic Trainers

摘要

For more than 35 years, the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research (NCCSIR) has served as a public health resource to raise awareness about the frequency and nature of sudden death and catastrophic injuries in sports. Data collected by the NCCSIR inform rule and policy changes to reduce the number of tragic and life-threatening events, thereby making sports safer. Despite these successes, gathering information about sudden deaths and catastrophic injuries has many challenges. A major obstacle to event identification and, ultimately, the accurate calculation of the incidence of these events, is the lack of a mandatory reporting system in the United States for sudden death and catastrophic injury in athletes. Thus, most statistics to date rely on extensive searches of available media reports or voluntary reporting to the NCCSIR by representatives of local, state, or national organizations governing or associated with student-athletes' well-being.