COLUMBIA Mo.
The growing number of exercise-induced deaths among athletes with sickle cell trait can be curtailed with proper treatment and greater awareness among team doctors and athletic trainers, a national medical group said in a report released Wednesday.
The National Athletic Trainers’ Association report, released at the group’s annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif., only suggests, not recommends, that schools screen players for the inherited blood disorder.
The symptoms of explosive muscle breakdown tied to sickle cell trait are “underrecognized and often misunderstood” by team medical workers who mistake the injury for heat exhaustion, muscle cramps or heart problems, the report found.
“Sickling collapse is a medical emergency,” the report states.
Nine athletes have died under such circumstances in the past seven years, ranging in age from 12 to 19. The NATA study also notes the deaths of 13 college football players at schools that did not test for sickle cell trait or had “a lapse in precautions.”
