title: American College of Sports Medicine Roundtable on exertional heat stroke--return to duty/return to play: conference proceedings.
abstract: On October 22-23, 2008, an ACSM Roundtable was convened at the Uniformed Services University (Bethesda, MD) to discuss return-to-play or return-to-duty for people who have experienced exertional heat illness (EHI) and to develop consensus-based recommendations. The conference assembled experts from the civilian sports medicine community and the Department of Defense to discuss relevant EHI issues, such as potential long-term consequences, the concept of thermotolerance, and the role of thermal tolerance testing in return-to-play decisions. Although the group was unable to move forward with new consensus recommendations, they clearly documented critical clinical concerns and scientific questions, including the following: 1) no uniform core definitions of EHI; 2) limited validated criteria to assess recovery from exertional heat stroke (EHS); and 3) inadequate ability to predict who may be predisposed to a subsequent heat injury after EHS. Areas of potential future research are identified.
authors.affiliation: Military and Emergency Medicine, Consortium for Health and Military Performance, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA. foconnor@usuhs.mil
authors.forename: Francis G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.forename: Douglas J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Casa
authors.forename: Michael F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Bergeron
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Deuster
authors.forename: Yuval
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Heled
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kark
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Leon
authors.forename: Brendon
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: McDermott
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: William O
authors.initials: WO
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sawka
mesh_terms: D001831:Body Temperature / Q000502:physiology; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D018883:Heat Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008396:Maryland; D005082:Physical Exertion / Q000502:physiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends*; D013178:Sports Medicine / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States