EXTERNAL CAUSES OF MORTALITY DURING EXERCISE IN SCHOOL, 1986-1998

Abstract

In order to elucidate factors associated with the external causes of mortality during exercise in school from 1986 to 1998, the frequencies and characteristics of mortality were investigated. We used from the booklet“Deaths and injuries under school supervision”published by the National Stadium and School Health Center of Japan. There were 295 deaths (22.7 deaths/year) from 1986 to 1998. The most common cause of mortality was injury (52%), and it also occurred in boys compared with girls in all causes of mortality. In more recent years, the incidence has decreased in injury and drowning, whereas it has increased in heat stroke. The incidence of injury and heat stroke was markedly higher during sports club training, while the incidence of drowning was high during physical education. In injury, most cases occurred during Judo. In drowning, most cases occurred during swimming. In heat stroke, most cases occurred during baseball. Among external causes of mortality in the ICD-10, “struck by thrown, projected or falling object” (W20) in injury, “drowning and submersion while swimming-pool” (W67) in drowning and“exposure to excessive natural heat” (X30) in heat stroke were the most frequent causes. Among the injury, Judo cases most occurred during W20, Rugby and American football cases most occurred during“striking against or bumped into by another person” (W51), and baseball, soccer cases most occurred during“striking against or struck by sports equipment” (W21) . As a result, more attention should be paid to circumstances related to a high incidence of death and the necessity of lecture on the protection and the prevention of external cause of mortality at school.