Coaches spend countless hours preparing student athletes for competition, but how about training them to save a life? Studies show between 6,000 - 8,000 teens experience sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) annually;1 of those affected, only 1 in 10 will survive.2
Student athletes are at heightened risk for SCA due to the additional strain placed on the heart during athletic conditioning and competition. Contributing factors include the influx of adrenaline, dehydration, fever, and changes in electrolytes.3
An SCA victim’s best chance of survival depends on having an automated external defibrillator (AED) close at hand. Nine out of ten victims who receive a shock from an AED within the first minute’s survive.4 Ensuring that your students and coaches are trained to respond to an SCA emergency could help save a life.
SCA can strike without warning, but sometimes symptoms are presented.
Train your student athletes to know the warning signs:5
- Fainting
- Chest pain
- Shortness of breath
- Irregular heartbeat – racing or fluttering
- Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Extreme fatigue
Watch this video to learn the story of a high school volleyball player whose life was saved when volunteers took action.
Having AEDs readily accessible throughout your school’s campus will help ensure that you are prepared to respond to an SCA emergency, whether it happens on the field, in the gym, or in the cafeteria.
To learn more about how the ZOLL AED Plus can help prepare your school for an SCA emergency click here.
Sources:
1“Sudden Cardiac Arrest and Teenage Athletes: What’s the Risk?”. Promise powered by Nemours Children’s Health System. https://blog.nemours.org/2017/02/sudden-cardiac-arrest-teenage-athletes-risk/
2“AHA Release 2015 Heart and Stroke Statistics”. Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation. http://www.sca-aware.org/sca-news/aha-releases-2015-heart-and-stroke-statistics
3 “Sports and Sudden Cardiac Arrest(SCA)”. Cardiosmart – American College of Cardiology. https://www.cardiosmart.org/Heart-Conditions/Sports-and-Sudden-Cardiac-Arrest
4Source: 2017, AHA Mediagenic Survey Results; 2017, AHA with Edelman Intelligence; 2017, AHA with BLR Media; Postgrad Medical Journal, October 2007.
5”Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) in Student-Athletes”. California Interscholastic Federation. http://www.cifstate.org/sports-medicine/sca/index