|
|
Article: For Young Athletes, a Key Save; New Guidelines Aim to Prevent Deaths of School, College Players From Sudden Cardiac Arrest
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- April 10, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
|
The last thing you might expect to see at a school sporting event
is a student having a fatal heart attack. But sudden cardiac arrest
accounts for possibly hundreds of such deaths a year among young
competitive athletes in the United States, making it a leading cause
of death for this population, according to some experts.
In an effort to reduce this toll, a task force convened by the
National Athletic Trainers' Association issued guidelines last week
to help high school and college athletic programs respond faster to
sudden cardiac arrest, or SCA.
SCA occurs when an electrical malfunction in the heart causes it
to contract rapidly and erratically so that it stops pumping blood.
Though ...