title: Motor vehicle accidents: the leading cause of death in collegiate athletes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report the leading cause of death in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis from January 2004 to December 2008.
  
  
  METHODS
  NCAA institutions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Collegiate athletes.
  
  
  METHODS
  NCAA divisions, sport, gender, and race.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mortality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the 5-year period, there were 273 deaths and a total of 1 969 663 athlete participation-years. Of these 273 deaths, 145 (53%) were due to accidents or unintentional injury, 45 (16%) from cardiac arrest, 25 (9%) suicides, and 18 (6%) homicides. The rate of death due to accidents was 7.36/100 000 participants per year. Motor vehicle accidents accounted for 100 accidents (69%). There was no significant difference in accident rates between NCAA divisions. Accidents were twice as likely in men compared with women (P < 0.0001). There was no significant difference in the accident rates in white versus black athletes. Although accidents usually occurred more frequently in the general population (5-fold) compared with NCAA athletes, certain athlete subgroups (Division I wrestling, Divisions I and II basketball, and Divisions I and II football) seem to be high-risk populations with death rates that were no different than the general population. This suggests that these athletes may engage in higher risk behaviors compared with other sporting subgroups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Motor vehicle accidents are the most common cause of sudden death in athletes across NCAA divisions, gender, race, and sport. Medical teams and institutions should design (1) effective safety prevention programs, and (2) catastrophic incident plans that can be implemented in the event of such tragedies.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Family Medicine, University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, Knoxville, Tennessee; †Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; and ‡National Collegiate Athletic Association, Indianapolis, Indiana.
authors.forename: Irfan M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Asif
authors.forename: Kimberly G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Harmon
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Klossner
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality*; D000293:Adolescent; D056352:Athletes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult