Abstract
Soccer injuries are a recognized problem worldwide. Several injury prevention programs have been confirmed to reduce the number of injuries in female and male players. Unfortunately, there is a lack of data about their cost, burden, and benefit for the health care system. In this paper we aim to systematically review the literature and critically evaluate the economic quality of injury prevention interventions implemented across different populations of soccer players. Web of Science, Medline, SPORTDiscus, Ovid, and other databases were searched from January 2011 through July 2021. Research articles were only selected for analysis if they focused on the cost-effectiveness of injury prevention, were experimental papers written in English, and were published following the peer-review process. Three cluster RCT and one retrospective study met the criteria. Cost data on incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were extracted. The included studies had a good/average quality of economic evaluation. Based on ICERs, injury prevention interventions were cost-effective in three out of the three comparisons. One study did not report the ICER value. However, since economic analyses were reported with varying methodological approaches and results, more data are required to recognize the cost-effectiveness of soccer-specific injury prevention interventions and their benefit for the health care system.
Highlights
IntroductionVarious injury prevention strategies have been implemented across different disciplines to reduce the number of sport-related injuries [2,3,4,5]
Sport and physical activity are related to a higher risk of injury occurrence [1]
After further analysis of abstracts, 14 papers did not meet the inclusion criteria and were excluded for the following reasons: the paper did not evaluate an injury prevention program (n = 9), the study described the study protocol for an on-going trial (n = 1), study available only as an abstract (n = 1), the study was a comment to original work (n = 1), and the study was designed as a systematic review (n = 2)
Summary
Various injury prevention strategies have been implemented across different disciplines to reduce the number of sport-related injuries [2,3,4,5]. Apart from its health- and sport-related value [6], the introduction of injury prevention programs significantly reduces the costs of sports injuries [2,4]. In 2005 Verhagen et al published one of the first studies dedicated to evaluating the cost-effectiveness of proprioceptive training. The training was performed on balance boards, and it aimed to prevent ankle sprains among volleyballers. Sensitivity analysis confirmed that this intervention might be cost-effective over a longer period when applied among athletes with previous ankle injuries [2]. The importance of cost-effective interventions for preventing sports-related injuries was documented previously [7]
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