Epidemiology of Injuries in National Collegiate Athletic Association Women's Basketball: 2014–2015 Through 2018–2019

Abstract

Context Frequent inspection of sports-related injury epidemiology among National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women's basketball student-athletes is valuable for identifying injury-related patterns. Background Emerging patterns in epidemiology of NCAA women's basketball injuries are unknown though general sports medicine practices, and playing rules and regulations have evolved in recent years. Methods Athlete exposures (AEs) and injury incidence data were reported to the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program between 2014–2015 and 2018–2019. Injury counts, rates, and proportions were used to examine injury characteristics, and injury rate ratios (IRRs) were used to assess injury rate differences. Results Practice and competition injury rates were 5.93 and 10.35 per 1000 AEs, respectively. Preseason injury rates were higher than regular (IRR = 1.41; 95% CI = 1.31, 1.53) and postseason (IRR = 3.12; 95% CI = 2.39, 4.07). Ankle sprains (14.3%), concussions (7.5%), and anterior cruciate ligament tears (2.5%) were the most commonly reported injuries. Summary Higher rates of practice and competition injuries, as well as ankle sprains, were observed relative to previous reports; continuous monitoring is necessary to identify potential contributing factors to these trends.