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Study Ranks State High School Sports Safety Policies

A report from the Korey Stringer Institute provides a ranking of states regarding how well they are prepared for a potential sudden death or catastrophic injury for high school athletes.

According to the report, more than 7.8 million secondary school athletes participate in a wide variety of sanctioned sports annually. From 1982 to 2015, there have been 735 fatalities (185 from direct causes, 550 from indirect causes). During that time, there have also been 626 catastrophic injuries (613 from direct causes, 13 from indirect causes). Direct causes are attributed to trauma (e.g. athlete-to-athlete or athlete-to-object contact). Indirect causes are exertion based (e.g. exertional heat stroke, sudden cardiac arrest, asthma).

The leading causes of death among secondary school athletes are: sudden cardiac arrest, traumatic head injuries, exertional heat stroke, and exertional sickling. Exertional sickling is a potentially fatal medical condition occurring in athletes carrying the sickle cell trait. It occurs when some of the red blood cells change into a “sickle” shape and cause a buildup of red blood cells in small blood vessels. This leads to decreased blood flow, a potential breakdown of muscle tissue, and eventually cell death, known as fulminant rhabdomyolysis.

Researchers gathered health and safety policies surrounding the leading causes of sudden death and catastrophic injury in sport from each state’s public high school athletic association, enacted legislation, and Department of Education that were in place for the 2017-2017 academic year. States received points on the rubric if associated policies were required or mandated to be followed by the state high school athletics association member schools in that respective state. States did not receive points on the rubric if polices were only recommended or encouraged. Each state received an aggregate score based on how many safety policies they had in place and how comprehensive they were. The best score was 100. Final scores were converted into percentages for each state, which were then ranked from 1 to 51 based on their percentage score.

North Carolina has the most comprehensive health and safety polices in place for secondary school athletics, with a score of 78.75%. Colorado has the fewest, with a score of 23%. The median state score was 47.1%. States scoring in the top 10% were North Carolina, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and South Dakota. States scoring in the bottom 10% were Minnesota, Montana, Iowa, California, and Colorado.

http://ksi.uconn.edu/high-school-state-policies/

The complete list of the rankings is:

Rank	State	Score (%)
1	North Carolina	78.75
2	Kentucky	71.13
3	Massachusetts	67.40
4	New Jersey	67.03
5	South Dakota	60.58
6	Missouri	60.00
6	Washington	60.00
8	Hawaii	59.13
8	Wisconsin	59.13
10	Georgia	56.98
11	Arkansas	56.03
12	New York	55.75
13	Mississippi	55.25
14	West Virginia	54.33
15	Oregon	53.59
16	Illinois	53.38
17	Tennessee	52.73
18	Arizona	52.00
19	Texas	50.80
20	District of Columbia	50.55
21	Virginia	49.40
22	Pennsylvania	49.00
23	Florida	48.25
24	New Mexico	48.08
25	Alabama	47.20
26	Maine	47.10
27	Rhode Island	46.73
28	Indiana	46.00
29	Nevada	45.00
30	Utah	44.00
31	Ohio	43.93
32	Delaware	43.73
33	Alaska	43.40
34	Vermont	42.38
35	Louisiana	41.00
36	Maryland	40.63
37	Oklahoma	40.50
38	Connecticut	40.01
39	Idaho	40.00
40	South Carolina	39.80
41	Michigan	38.73
42	North Dakota	38.00
43	Nebraska	37.75
44	New Hampshire	36.00
45	Kansas	35.75
46	Wyoming	35.00
47	Minnesota	33.35
48	Montana	33.25
49	Iowa	33.00
50	California	26.00
51	Colorado	23.00

http://ksi.uconn.edu/high-school-state-policies/
Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/sports/high-school/article166367597.html#storylink=cpy