Sport-related injuries in the emergency department: An analysis of 1636 cases

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the characteristics of patients with sport injuries and to compare the injury rates in different kinds of sports with regard to age groups. Method: Emergency department (ED) records of patients with sport injuries between 2006 and 2010 were retrospectively searched, and analyzed with regard to demographics, injured body parts, type and nature of injury. Results: Among 1636 consecutive eligible patients admitted to the ED with any kinds of sport injuries, 1317 (80.5%) patients were men, and mean age was 25,7±5,1 years. There were football injuries in 1196 (73.1%) cases, basketball injuries in 229 (14.0%) cases, and running or walking injuries in 167 (10.2%) cases. While football was the most common cause of injury identified in all age groups, basketball was the second cause of injury for age under 35 years. Running and walking was the second cause of injury in those over 35 years. The most commonly injured body part was the lower extremities (62.7%), followed by the upper extremities (23.3%) and the head and neck, (6.9%) respectively. While strains and sprains were more frequent in basketball, fractures- dislocations and other superficial injuries were more common in artificial surface football games. Conclusion: Sport-related injuries remains to be an important health problem for the community, men and football players being the main target population. Preventive measures including usage of protective equipment, arrangement of specially designed sports facilities with necessary conditions for the activities and proper supervision for children may prove useful in alleviating the toll.