Abstract
Objectives. To examine body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) as risk factors for sport injury in adolescents. Design. A secondary analysis of prospectively collected data from a pilot cluster randomized controlled trial. Methods. Adolescents (n = 1,040) at the ages of 11–15 years from two Calgary junior high schools were included. BMI (kg/m2) and WC (cm) were measured from direct measures at baseline assessment. Categories (overweight/obese) were created using validated international (BMI) and national (WC) cut-off points. A Poisson regression analysis controlling for relevant covariates (sex, previous injury, sport participation, intervention group, and aerobic fitness level) estimated the risk of sport injury [incidence rate ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI)]. Results. There was an increased risk of time loss injury (IRR = 2.82, 95% CI: 1.01–8.04) and knee injury (IRR = 2.07, 95% CI: 1.00–6.94) in adolescents that were overweight/obese; however, increases in injury risk for all injury and lower extremity injury were not statistically significant. Estimates suggested a greater risk of time loss injury [IRR = 1.63 (95% CI: 0.93–2.47)] in adolescents with high measures of WC. Conclusions. There is an increased risk of time loss injury and knee injury in overweight/obese adolescents. Sport injury prevention training programs should include strategies that target all known risk factors for injury.
Highlights
Sport injury is the leading cause of injury in Canadian youth [1]
This study found that there was an increased odds of sport injury in obese adolescents compared to healthy weight adolescents; recommendations for future research included using prospective study designs and direct measures of weight [7]
At baseline (Table 1), the proportion of overweight/obese boys (15.3%, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 11.9–18.9) was higher compared to girls (9.0%, 95% CI: 6.7–11.2)
Summary
In the 2009-2010 Canadian Community Health Survey, children over the age of 12 reported sport as the activity where their most serious injury occurred, a total of 1,470,000 injuries over a one-year period [2]. Lifelong participation in sport and physical activity is important, as overweight/obesity is an established epidemic [3]. Overweight/obesity in youth in Canada has increased in past decades; the prevalence of obesity in 2004 was 2.5 times higher than measures in the late 1970s [3]. Self-report body mass index (BMI) data collected in the 2013 Health Indicator Profile reported that 421,350 Canadian children at the ages of 12–17 years were overweight or obese [3]
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