TEMPLE, Texas — According to the University of Texas Health and Sciences Center in Houston cardiac arrest remains the leading cause of death among young student athletes.
Juggling practice plans, the summer heat and player safety has now become the norm for high school coaches, including Midway High School Football Coach Shane Anderson as he enters his 20th year in the profession.
"We have to be CPR certified, and do that every two years, every one of our athletes get a medical physical before they're released and cleared by doctors," Anderson said. "That hasn't changed."
Anderson says protocols and precautions are in place to ensure the safety of their players at all times, even when practicing in 100-plus degree heat in the summer.
"We have two full-time athletic trainers that are on staff at every practice," Anderson said "That's why we have summer strength and conditioning to get our kids in shape and make sure they're ready to go."
At games and practices, Anderson said there are CPR-certified trainers on site who have automated external defibrillators if necessary.
Heart health and safety among athletes was thrust into the national spotlight after Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin collapsed after suffering cardiac arrest on the field during a Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals Jan. 2.
Dr. Amy Mersiovsky, director of the department of nursing at Texas A&M University-Central Texas said such sudden episodes, especially in youths, can be caused by "structural defects" or "electrical problems with the heart."
"In children or adolescents that could be a congenital heart defect, and most of the time people know about those," Mersiovsky said. "But once and a while those defects are not noticed if an child has not become symptomatic."
Mersiovsky said causes of sudden cardiac arrest range from narrowing of the arteries, hypertrophy (an increase and growth of muscle cells in the heart) or cardio myopathy in which a part of the heart is not working as strongly as the rest of the muscle "and it just keeps getting bigger as it tries to work better."
"As people get older we hear more about atherosclerosis, but typically in children that's not the problem it's a structural defect and they're born with it," Meriovsky said.
Meriovsky said that if an irregularity is flagged by a physician, parents should bring their child back into their physician for additional screening and discuss next steps and what activities are appropriate to participate in.
"Any of those problems, coaches would be advised of and know the appropriate measures to be taken for the child," Meriovsky said.
Meriovsky said that athletic departments and schools across the state have electronic defibrillators used to help shock the heart back into rhythm. In the instances that does not work, she said CPR must be administered immediately.
"If a child goes down and does not have a pulse, CPR should not be delayed," Meriovsky said. "We do not want the blood to stop circulating."
In the case of cardiac arrest, Meriovsky said the heart is not bleeding and blood is, in turn, not circulating and being distributed throughout the body.
In Texas, currently, EKG screenings are not required in a routine sports physical. If an EKG screening is requested on a student or student-athlete by a parents, the subsequent cost falls on the family.
Meriovsky said that in data she has analyzed the highest risk age group among young adults falls in the late junior high to high school years.
"If there is any indication parents need to talk to their primary care physicians and get those screenings," Meriovsky said. "Identifying risk is the best way of preventing a child from having a problem."
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