Epidemiology of Injury in Child and Adolescent Sports: Injury Rates, Risk Factors, and Prevention

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The epidemiology of sports injuries in children and youth is an important area of research that has been largely overlooked in the medical and sport science literature. This article presents an overview of the analytic aspects of pediatric sports injury epidemiology, focusing on injury risk factors and preventive measures. The review indicates that few modifiable injury risk factors have been statistically evaluated, and not many studies have been designed to determine the effect of injury prevention measures in pediatric sports. However, initial results are promising. Specific directions for further analytic research are presented.

Section snippets

Injury Rates

The most basic expression of risk is incidence, which is defined as the number of new cases of disease (or injury) that occur in a defined population during a given period of time [4]. Clinical incidence, which refers to the number of incident injuries divided by the total number of athletes at risk and usually multiplied by some k value (eg, 100) [5], is commonly reported in the pediatric sports injury literature [6], [7], [8]. Although it may serve as an indicator of clinical or resource use,

Injury Risk Factors

Risk factors in sport are any factors that may increase the risk for injury [41]. These factors may be classified as intrinsic or extrinsic [42]. Intrinsic factors are individual biologic and psychosocial characteristics predisposing an athlete to the outcome of injury, such as previous injury or life stress. They are viewed as factors that predispose the athlete to react in a specific manner to an injury situation. Once the athlete is predisposed, extrinsic or “enabling” factors may facilitate

Injury Prevention

Participation in children's and youth sports is not without risk. Sports injuries may cause significant discomfort and disabilities, may reduce productivity, and are responsible for significant medical expenses. In some cases, the injury may be catastrophic, causing lifelong disability. Other less severe injuries may also have long-term effects, because there is evidence that knee and ankle injuries may result in an increased risk for osteoarthritis later in life [98]. Although it is impossible

Suggestions for Further Research

The epidemiology of sports injuries in children and youth is an important area of research that has been largely overlooked in the medical and sport science literature. The overview of pediatric injury literature presented here underscores the need to establish large-scale injury surveillance systems designed to provide current and reliable data on injury trends in sports for boys and girls. This is especially important for sports like gymnastics, in which the rules change every 4 years, or

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