Teen Athletes and Sudden Death Syndrome: Is Your Teen at Risk?

There so many cases of teenagers falling dead during their sport activities that national attention has been drawn to this particular issue. These "random" stories about teens collapsing during their athletic activities have become more rampant than ever. As soon as you hear about one child falling prey to Sudden Death Syndrome, more cases arise...

September 2009: 16-year-old teen Sergey Blashchisen collapsed while hiking in Portland, Oregon; he had recently passed his physical.

September 2010: Orange County, Florida; 15-year-old high school student Oliver Louis collapses during football practice; the heat was named as a factor in this particular death, as the temperature topped 100°.

October 2007: Calhoun County, South Carolina; 15-year-old girl dies from a hidden heart problem; she collapses while jogging.

August 2010: Forsyth County, Georgia; 17-year-old teen named Josh Haddock collapses during football practice. He undergoes brain surgery where doctors attempt to drain blood building up around his brain. In this case it seems that a hard impact may have caused the bleeding.

October 2008: 13-year-old Kentucky basketball player collapses during his first day of practice. Keith Michael Walker was in seventh grade and autopsy results indicate that he died from sudden cardiac arrest. He too had passed his physical. Furthermore, the teen was inside an air-conditioned gymnasium when he collapsed.

September 2009: Wilson Vili, a 16-year-old from Omaha, Nebraska attended football practice with no incident. But immediately after leaving practice, he collapsed at the restaurant where he was having dinner.

September 2006: 16-year-old girl named Schermiela Palmer collapsed during gym class on a rubberized outdoor track. She had already finished her run and fell face first while walking. it was noted that the teen had previously failed in class for not being able to complete one lap (220 yard track) under the allotted time of three minutes and 10 seconds.

The list of cases like this goes on and on. It seems that now more than ever teenagers are dropping dead during the activities that we as a society encourage them to participate in. Typically there are no signs of foul play. The teenagers in question don't have any abnormal health defects. And for all intents and purposes, their behavior and performance seems normal - that is until they collapse to the ground.

Some Theories...

Many of the students actually had undetected heart problems. Leaking valves and enlarged hearts have been named as the culprits. But in most cases, the deaths are completely unexpected; the parents, loved ones, and friends are left in utter shock.

Some parents actually blame the sports, claiming that they are rough on the kids. Parents wonder whether the coaches are pushing their young athletes too hard on the track, on the field, and in the gym. Again, this idea can easily be refuted. Youth sports have been around for decades. Additionally, there was a time when kids played hard outside (even in the heat) without collapsing and dying.

It is also possible that students who didn't spend much more time playing outside while they were young children, become teenagers with hearts that haven't been conditioned for the type of activities that they are engaging in. Would it be feasible to say that the child's heart has problems "catching up" to the type of exertion that is required for sports? Again, this may seem like a far-fetched theory. But we are also living in a world where young girls are entering puberty at age 9 - an event that some doctors say is related to an excess of estrogen caused by childhood obesity.

Protecting the Kids...

Football especially, being a high-energy contact sport, is sometimes to blame. On at least three occasions, Sudden Death Syndrome has been linked to hard hits or other injuries sustained during practice. But does this mean that parents should remove their kids from sports or other physical school activities? Probably not. For the most part, undetected heart troubles or other medical problems have been inextricably linked to the cases.

Hypertrophic Cardiac Myopathy (HCM), a thickening of the heart's walls, has been identified as one of the main causes of the teens' sudden death. According to doctors, some teens carry what is known as the HCM gene - which is detected in children between the ages of 12 and 18 years old. Early discovery (via an EKG or electrocardiogram) along with medication can prevent HCM-related deaths. The only problem is that screening for this particular gene isn't usually covered in routine physicals. Physicians encourage parents to take more active participation in their children's preventative health care. Though the extra screening costs more than standard physical examinations, most agree that it's worth it., Parents should also take note of any other physical irregularities. In most cases, paying more attention to teens' athletic curriculum and asking coaches the right questions can help save lives.

SOURCES:

Www.foxnews.com
www.Oregonlive.com
www.myFoxAtlanta.com
www.heartscreensforteens.com