Epidemiologic Analysis Of Adolescent Track & Field Related Emergency Department Visits

Abstract

PURPOSE: Track and field (T&F) is the most popular high school sport in the United States with close to 1.1 million participants. T&F athletes experience many health benefits of sport participation; however, they are also confronted by injury risks associated with the sport. With steady growth in T&F participation over the last 20 years, it is important to analyze serious injuries that may affect T&F participants’ future health. The purpose of this study is to examine adolescent T&F athletes’ emergency department (ED) visits from a nationally representative sample of hospitals. METHODS: Data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System was used to describe the types of T&F injuries that resulted in ED visits among adolescents aged 14-18 between the years 2000 and 2019. The total number of ED visits were reported and a national estimate of T&F related ED visits was calculated. The most frequent injury diagnoses were reported, as were the most frequent diagnoses resulting in hospital admission. Injuries during 2018 and 2019 were categorized and reported by the type of T&F activity adolescents were engaged in at their time of injury. RESULTS: During the study period NEISS recorded 8,105 T&F related ED visits, suggesting an estimated 274,630 visits nationally over the same timeframe (95% CI: 164,721 384,539). The most common diagnoses evaluated in the ED were ankle sprains (n = 1,100, 13.6%), knee sprains (n = 626, 7.72%), and lower trunk strains (n = 542, 6.69%). One-hundred and ninety-six of the observations led to hospital admission (2.42% of all visits). Hospital admissions were most commonly due to fractures (n = 85, 43.4%), internal injuries (n = 23, 11.7%), and heat-related illnesses (n = 7, 3.6%). Over the last two years of the study period, the most common T&F activities associated with ED visits were track running (n = 507, 52.4%), cross country running (n = 108, 11.2%), hurdling (n = 88, 9.09%), jumping (n = 49, 5.06%), pole vaulting (n = 27, 2.79%), and throwing events (n = 25, 2.58%). CONCLUSIONS: This study describes the most common reasons for ED visits and hospital admissions among adolescent T&F athletes over the last 20 years. A variety of injuries involving multiple levels of severity were observed. Ankle sprains were the most common reason for ED visit and fractures accounted for the most hospital admissions.