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Editorial
A call to capture fatalities in consensus statements for sports injury/illness surveillance
  1. Lauren V Fortington1,
  2. Kristen L Kucera2,
  3. Caroline F Finch1
  1. 1 Australian Collaboration for Research into Injury in Sport and its Prevention (ACRISP), Federation University Australia, Ballarat, Australia
  2. 2 Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Lauren V Fortington, Australian Collaboration for Research into Injury in Sport and its Prevention (ACRISP), Federation University Australia, SMB Campus, PO Box 663, Ballarat VIC 3353 Australia; l.fortington{at}federation.edu.au

https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2017-097488

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    Deaths are considered to be rare in sport, but detailed information and specific fatality rates for different sport settings are limited owing to a paucity of data. Most research originates in the USA,1 2 and it has identified sudden cardiac arrest, traumatic injuries to the head/neck, exertional heat stroke, hyponatremia and asthma2 as the leading causes. Put simply, in sport, death can result from direct (eg, acute traumatic injuries) or indirect (eg, underlying illness/condition) causes, with external/environmental factors also implicated in some events.3 An understanding of the people that are most at risk and the leading causes of deaths in sporting environments, is a crucial first step toward implementing appropriate emergency management plans to prevent fatalities.

    Quality data drives prevention

    The value and importance of surveillance to guide management and prevention of fatalities is well established, including in sport where data-driven changes have led to a reduction in …

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    Footnotes

    • Funding None declared.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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