An Epidemiologic Comparison of Injuries to Skiers and Snowboarders Treated at United States Emergency Departments, 2000–2019

Abstract

Previous studies of skiing/snowboarding injuries have been conducted, but studies evaluating injury types and patterns over long periods of time are needed to drive effective injury prevention efforts. We hypothesized that injury patterns would differ among winter sports and that the number of injuries remained constant over time. This is a retrospective study of patients presenting with skiing/snowboarding injuries to the United States emergency departments from 2000–2019. A total of 34,720 injured skiers (48.0%) and snowboarders (52.0%) presented to United States emergency departments over a 20-year period, representing an estimated 1,620,576 injuries nationwide. There is a decreasing trend of the number of injuries over the study period (p=0.012). Males represented the majority (65.7%) of injuries. Skiers were older than snowboarders (mean 30.1 vs. 20.0 years; p<0.001) and patients aged <18 represented more snowboarding (57.0%) than skiing (43.0%) injuries (p<0.001). Common diagnoses included fractures (33.0%) and sprains/strains (26.9%). Snowboarders primarily presented with upper extremity injuries, meanwhile, skiers primarily presented with lower extremity injuries. Most patients (93.2%), were treated and discharged from the emergency departments. Understanding the epidemiology of injuries presenting to emergency departments can help guide prehospital care and medical coverage allocation for resorts and event organizers, as well as identifying areas for targeted injury prevention efforts