Why the study?
High school athletes have higher rates of injuries and sudden death than college counterparts, but disparities in school-provided medical care access may be driven by school characteristics or socioeconomic or racial factors.
Access to sports medicine care and automated external defibrillators in high schools is negatively impacted by the percentage of low-income students, highlighting socioeconomic disparities in athlete safety.
Highlights potential inequities in high school athlete care; leaves open whether targeted policies can reduce income-related access gaps.
High school athletes have higher rates of injuries and sudden death than their college counterparts. Medical care for these athletes should include access to team physicians, athletic trainers, and automated external defibrillators. Disparities in medical care access provided by high schools for their athletes may be due to school characteristics or socioeconomic or racial factors. This study investigated relationships between these factors and access to team physicians, athletic trainers, and automated external defibrillators. Medical care access is negatively related to the percentage of low-income students and positively related to the number of sports offered. Relationships between race and access to a team physician became nonsignificant when the percentage of low-income students was considered. Physicians who treat high school athletes should consider the medical care access provided by their schools when they educate these patients about preventing and treating sports injuries.
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Nicholson et al. (2023) studied this question.
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