Sports Medicine Commons^™

Should School Boards Discontinue Support For High School Football?, Lewis H. Margolis, Greg Canty, Mark Halstead, John Lantos

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

A pediatrician is asked by her local school board to help them decide whether to discontinue their high school football program. She reviews the available evidence on the risks of football and finds it hopelessly contradictory. Some scholars claim that football is clearly more dangerous than other sports. Others suggest that the risks of football are comparable to other sports, such as lacrosse, ice hockey, or soccer. She finds very little data on the long-term sequelae of concussions. She sees claims that good coaching and a school culture that prioritizes the health of athletes over winning can reduce morbidity from …

Locations Of Physical Activity As Assessed By Gps In Young Adolescents., Jordan A. Carlson, Jasper Schipperijn, Jacqueline Kerr, Brian E. Saelens, Loki Natarajan, Lawrence D. Frank, Karen Glanz, Terry L. Conway, Kelli L. Cain, James F. Sallis, J E. Chapman

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

OBJECTIVES: To compare adolescents' physical activity at home, near home, at school, near school, and at other locations.

METHODS: Adolescents (N = 549) were ages 12 to 16 years (49.9% girls, 31.3% nonwhite or Hispanic) from 447 census block groups in 2 US regions. Accelerometers and Global Positioning System devices assessed minutes of and proportion of time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in each of the 5 locations. Mixed-effects regression compared MVPA across locations and demographic factors.

RESULTS: Forty-two percent of adolescents' overall MVPA occurred at school, 18.7% at home, 18.3% in other (nonhome, nonschool) locations, and …

Preventing Sudden Cardiac Death In Athletes: In Search Of Evidence-Based, Cost-Effective Screening, Paolo Angelini, Mladen I Vidovich, Christine E Lawless, Macarthur A Elayda, J Alberto Lopez, Dwayne Wolf, James T Willerson

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Sudden cardiac death in athletes is a recurrent phenomenon at sporting events and during training. Recent studies have associated sudden cardiac death with such cardiovascular conditions as coronary artery anomalies, cardiomyopathies, and electrocardiographic abnormalities, most of which are screenable with modern imaging techniques. We recently inaugurated the Center for Coronary Artery Anomalies at the Texas Heart Institute, which is dedicated to preventing sudden cardiac death in the young and investigating coronary artery anomalies. There, we are conducting 2 cross-sectional studies intended to firmly establish and quantify, in a large group of individuals from a general population, risk factors for sudden …