title: Death by homicide in National Collegiate Athletic Association athletes between 2003 and 2013.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The incidence of homicide-related death among individuals of college age in the United States population is estimated at 15.5/100,000. The incidence of homicide among National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes is unknown.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the rate of homicide-related death in NCAA athletes and to identify associated risk factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  The NCAA Resolutions list, NCAA catastrophic insurance claims, media reports, and published NCAA demographic data were used to identify student athlete deaths and total participant seasons from 2003-04 through 2012-13. Homicide-related deaths were analysed by sex, race, division, sport, method, location, and circumstance. Internet searches were used to gather case details.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-two cases of homicide-related death were identified from 4,242,519 individual participant seasons during the ten-year study period. The incidence of homicide-related death in NCAA athletes was 1.0/100,000. The incidence in males was 1.45/100,000 and in females was 0.4/100,000 (relative risk (RR) 2.9, p=0.01). The incidence in black athletes was 4.2/100,000 and in white athletes was 0.4/100,000 (RR 7.0, p<0.001). The highest sport-specific homicide-related death rate was in American football (3.7/100,000), with a RR of 4.4 (p=0.002) compared to all other sports. 88% of cases occurred off-campus. 38% of cases occurred at a social gathering, and 38% of cases occurred in a place of residence. 74% involved a fatal shooting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Homicide-related deaths in NCAA athletes occur most commonly in males, black athletes, and American football players. Understanding the incidence, risk factors, and circumstances of homicide-related deaths in college athletes may assist NCAA institutions in developing preventative measures.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  University of Washington Human Subjects Application, HSD No. 42077.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Ashwin L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Drezner
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zigman
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Irfan M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Asif
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Kimberly G
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3670-6609
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Harmon
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American; D056352:Athletes / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005538:Football; D006708:Homicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013177:Sports; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities; D044465:White People
keywords: Athletics; Death; Homicide; Risk factor; University