State-By-State Ranking Of High School Sports Safety Policy Implementation – Hartford Courant

30) Utah                            44.00

31) Ohio                            43.93

32) Delaware                     43.73

33) Alaska                         43.40

34) Vermont                      42.38

35) Louisiana                     41.00

36) Maryland                     40.63

37) Oklahoma                    40.50

38) Connecticut                  40.01

39) Idaho                           40.00

40) South Carolina              39.80

41) Michigan                       38.73

42) North Dakota                 38.00

43) Nebraska                       37.75

44) New Hampshire              36.00

45) Kansas                          35.75

46) Wyoming                       35.00

47) Minnesota                      33.35

48) Montana                         33.25

49) Iowa                              33.00

50) California                        26.00

51) Colorado                         23.00

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the purpose of this study?

The purpose of this study is to provide a graded assessment of the implementation of health and safety policies pertaining to the leading causes of sudden death and catastrophic injury in sport at the state level for secondary school athletics within the United States and District of Columbia.

What are the leading causes of death for secondary school athletes?

The leading causes of death among secondary school athletes are: sudden cardiac arrest, traumatic head injuries, exertional heat stroke, and exertional sickling.

What is exertional sickling?

Exertional sickling is a potentially fatal medical condition occurring in athletes carrying the sickle cell trait. It occurs when some of the red blood cells change into a “sickle” shape and cause a buildup of red blood cells in small blood vessels. This leads to decreased blood flow, a potential breakdown of muscle tissue, and eventually cell death, known as fulminant rhabdomyolysis.

How was each state assessed and scored?

A rubric was created in which each state was assessed based on five equally weighted sections pertaining to sudden cardiac arrest, traumatic head injuries, exertional heat stroke, appropriate medical coverage, and emergency preparedness. Current evidence-based best practices from the Interassociation Task Force for Preventing Sudden Death in Secondary School Athletics published in the Journal of Athletic Training in 2013 were used to form the content of the grading rubric.

Researchers gathered health and safety policies surrounding the leading causes of sudden death and catastrophic injury in sport from each state’s public high school athletic association, enacted legislation, and Department of Education that were in place for the 2017-2017 academic year. States received points on the rubric if associated policies were required or mandated to be followed by the state high school athletics association member schools in that respective state. States did not receive points on the rubric if polices were only recommended or encouraged. Each state received an aggregate score based on how many safety policies they had in place and how comprehensive they were. The best score was 100. Final scores were converted into percentages for each state, which were then ranked from 1 to 51 based on their percentage score.