How Athletes Die.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXVII, Issue 16, 20 October 1906, Page 29

How Athletes Die.

Athletics are. in general, dangerous to life, especially when their use degenerates into abuse, thinks Dr. Robert E. Coughlin. In the ‘•Medical Record” are compiled the result of observations of deaths oi athletes and fatalities in athletic games during the year.” some of which follow: ‘•'Hie whole number of deaths collected amounted ,to one hundred and twenty eight, of which fifty were due to diseases and seventy-eight to accidents of different kinds. Cerebro spinal men ingiti.s were, stated to be. the cause of death in nine cases, cardiac disease in eight: pneumonia in seven; pulmonary tuberculosis in seven; Bright’s disease in five; appendicitis in four; typhoid fever in four; suicide in two; apoplexy in one; suppurative tonsilit’s in one; splenic anaemia in one; senility in one. In the accidental deaths football was the game mentioned in twenty-eight cases; baseball in twelve; horse-racing in nine; boxing in six; gymnasium feats in three; auto driving in two; the other fatalities being equally divided between golf playing, hammer throwing, bicycle coasting, handball, polo playing and wrestling.” The cases observed showed that athletes die from disease at an average age of thirty one. while the average age of these who met an accidental death was twenty-six years and one month. The causes of death in football were stated as follows: Abdominal injuries, seven: dislocation of spine with paralysis, three; concussion of brain, five; fracture of skull, five; vertebral hemorrhage, two; fracture of rib (the same being driven into the heart), two; fracture of spine, one; acute peritonitis, one; convulsions, one; infected wound of knee-joint, one. Fractures of skull were the came of death in the nine jockeys, hi the swimming accidents exhaustion by being caught in a current, was the cause of death in three cases, (’ramp caused one death. The causes of death in the remaining two cases could not be determined. In the boxing accidents l.lood clot in brain was the autoposy report in two cases. The conclusions of Dr. Coughlins investigations are:- First: that athletes are prone to cardiac lesions, whether a simple physiological hypertrophy, a •hypertrophy with dilatation, an endocarditis, a white spot on the heart, or myocarditis, as pointed out by Richardson, of London, or the different valvular conditions. Second: That pneumonia ranks high as a cause of death in athletes because of the cardiac embarrassment in connection with this disease. Third: That athletes appear to he susceptible to infectious diseases. and when affected with these diseases succumb to uiem as readily as others. Fourth: That pulmonary tubercolisis is a cause of death in a large percentage of athletes. Fifth: That the average age of death of athletes is far lielow that of the average person in the ordinary walks of life. Sixth: That tnc game of football, as played in America during the season of 1905, was the cause of an appalling number of serious injuries and fatalities, and that it is very evident that something will have to be done to eliminate* the dangerous features in the game, especially mass play. Seventh: The idea in alt kinds of athletics should I * to improve and make men. not to maim, cripple, and bury them.