Results on sports-related injuries in children from NHS emergency care dataset Oxfordshire pilot: an ecological study

Abstract

Summary Objectives To analyse and report on sports-related injuries using enhanced injury data collected by the testbed for the NHS emergency care injury data set and admissions data collected from inpatients. Design Ecological study design. Setting Two Oxfordshire NHS England hospitals. Participants Emergency department attendees and inpatients aged 0–19 years with sports injuries. Main outcome measures Data were analysed from 1 January 2012 to 30 March 2014 by age, gender sport, injury location, injury mechanism and diagnosis including concussion/post-concussion, bone fractures and ligament damage. Admissions data were analysed from 1 January 2012 to 24 January 2015. Results Children and adolescents aged 0–19 years accounted for almost half (47.4%) of sports injury-related emergency department attendances and almost one-quarter (23.5%) of sports injury-related admissions for all ages. The highest rates of attendance occurred at 14 years for boys (68.22 per 1000 person-years) and 12 years for girls (33.72 per 1000 person-years). For male 0–19-year-olds the three main sports were (in order) football (soccer), rugby union and rugby league and for females, trampoline, netball and horse-riding. The largest gender differences were in netball where injuries were predominantly in females and in wheeled motorsports where injuries were predominantly in males. Almost one-quarter of emergency department sports-related injuries recorded were fractures, the highest percentage to the upper limbs. Conclusions Public health departments in local authorities and schools should consider target sports injury prevention at children in the first four years of secondary school. For younger age groups, trampolines in the home warrant improved safety. Rugby and horse-riding should also be a focus for interventions.