Sickle Cell Trait NCAA Compliance Information

University of Colorado Colorado Springs Athletic Department, Division of Sports Medicine, has adopted a policy following the NCAA bylaw for Division II institutions, to require sickle cell solubility screen as part of the pre-participation medical examination.  This legislation is applicable to all student-athletes in 2012, and only those who are beginning their initial year of eligibility at University of Colorado Colorado Springs in 2013.  This test MUST be administered prior to any athletic participation.

A student athlete can comply with this bylaw by completing one of the following options:

1. Provide results of a prior sickle cell test.

2. Take a blood test (sickle cell solubility test) and await the results before participating, may take up to a week for results. This option is being set up by the University to allow student-athletes to go to any Quest Laboratory to complete the test at the Universities expense.

How to Provide Results of a Previous Test:

As of today, all 50 states have newborn screening programs that identify sickle cell trait status at birth, however not all states adopted screening in the same year.  In the state of Colorado, if your son or daughter was born in or after 1978, results may be available from your child's pediatrician by submitting a medical records release form. We suggest calling your pediatrician prior to submitting any request to ask if they have results on file, if not available, there will be a link below for contacting the states newborn screening program where your child was born.

If your son or daughter was not born in Colorado, please contact your pediatrician for results by using a medical records release form. Alternatively you may contact the newborn screening program in the state where your child was born using this website:

http://genes-r-us.uthscsa.edu/resources/consumer/statemap.htm

As noted above, please call your pediatrician first to ask if they have results on file, if not available, contact the state.

How to Get at Test if Needed:

The University has been working with Quest Laboratories to set up an account so that student-athletes can be tested.  This account is only active in the State of Colorado, so if you are not in the State of Colorado please contact me for more details.

We have just finalized, the process in which the State of Colorado residents can get a test performed at any Quest Diagnostics Center in Colorado. Below is a brief description of how the process works, and items that you will need to have for that process.

1. You must obtain a test requisition form from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs Sports Medicine Department. This form unfortunately, cannot be e-mailed or faxed. This leaves normal US mail and/or picking it up within the athletic department prior to your test date.
2. Once you have the test requisition form, go to the Quest Diagnostics website (http://www.questdiagnostics.com/home.html), it should look like the picture to the right.
3. Once there on the bottom left-hand corner (as seen below), there is a link to find the closest Quest Diagnostics laboratory to you.
4. Once you've found the closest laboratory, schedule an appointment with them either online or by calling the particular facility.
5.  Take the test requisition form to the appointment, this serves as your physician prescription, they will do a blood draw and the results will be sent to our team physicians.

Please remember that the easiest way to obtain results of a Sickle Cell Solubility test is by contacting your pediatrician.

Phone: (719) 357-8220 or spmed@uccs.edu

Educational Information about Sickle Cell Anemia:

Below is a list of links as well as a video about sickle cell trait and athletics.

NCAA Sickle Cell Video

NCAA Sickle Cell Information for Coaches

NCAA Sickle Cell Information for Student-Athletes