Sport, age, and sex specific incidence of sports injuries in Western Australia

Objective-To describe the trends in recreational sports injury in Perth, We stern Australia. Design-A prospective cohort study of sports injuries during the 1997 winter season (May to September). Setting-Sample of Australian football, field ho ckey, basketball, and netball players from the Perth metropolitan area, Wes tern Australia. Methods-A cohort of sports participants was followed over the five month wi nter sports season. Before the season, participants completed a baseline qu estionnaire and during the season were interviewed every four weeks by tele phone. Results-Overall, 92% of participants (n = 1391) who completed a baseline qu estionnaire completed at least one follow up telephone interview. About hal f (51%) of the cohort sustained one or more injuries during the winter seas on accounting for a total of 1034 injuries. Most injuries were of moderate (58%, n = 598) or minor (40%, n = 412) severity, with only 3% (n = 24) requ iring emergency department treatment or a hospital stay. The injury inciden ce rate was greatest for football (20.3/1000 hours of participation), simil ar for field hockey and basketball (15.2/1000 hours and 15.1/1000 hours res pectively), and lowest for netball (12.1/1000 hours). The incidence of inju ry was greatest in the first four weeks of the season, and participants age d between 26 and 30 years had about a 55% greater risk of injury than those aged less than 18 years. Conclusions-This is one of the first studies to show that recreational spor ts are safe. Although the likelihood of injury was greatest in the first mo nth of the season, few injuries required admission to hospital or emergency department treatment. A greater emphasis on prevention in the early part o f the season should help to reduce the elevated incidence of injury found a t this time.