2010/2011 NSAA 10-Year Interval Injury Study

Abstract

Skiing and snowboarding are common activities at ski resorts that may result in injury. In 1980, The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) commissioned the first 10-Year Interval national injury study. This is the fourth such study. The objective of the study was to obtain estimates of the prevalence, incidence, and nature of snow sports injuries across the US. These studies are used to evaluate injury trends. The method for the study was to obtain Ski Patrol Incident data from selected ski resorts in the US on the basis of size and geographical location. The data were weighted by the % of resort visits based on size and location. National skier and snowboarder control demographic data came from the NSAA 2010 National Demographic Study. Resort visit totals came from the NSAA 2010 Kottke National End-of-Season Survey. A retrospective stratified study design was used. Statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) was used to evaluate incidence trends using linear regression. Incidence rate differences were evaluated using t-test. Prevalence was evaluated using Chi-Square tests. The 0.05 level of significance was used. The sample areas generated 13 145 incident reports and 4 618 194 visitation days. The weighted skiing incident rate was 3.1 per 1000 visits in 1980, 2.7 in 1990, 2.6 in 2000, and 2.5 for 2010. The weighted 2010 snowboard rate was 6.1 per 1000 visits; it was 3.3 in 1990, and 7.0 for 2000. Ultimately, skiing injury rate continues to decrease. Snowboarding injury rate has decreased since the last study: injury patterns for snowboarding versus skiing is unchanged, injury patterns for males versus females is unchanged, incidence of jumping related incident reports has declined since last report, the prevalence of collision incidents with fixed objects on the slope decreased, and Terrain Parks are not associated with increase in injury rates or prevalence of jumping injuries. KEYWORDS: ski, snowboard, injury trend analyses Language: en