Characterization of American Football Injuries in Children and Adolescents

Smith, Patrick J.; Hollins, Anthony M.; Sawyer, Jeffrey R.; Spence, David D.; Outlaw, Shane; Kelly, Derek M.

doi:10.1097/bpo.0000000000001101

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Second, this was done out of consideration for epidemiologic data that suggest that injuries, especially fracture, become most common in youth contact sports, especially football, around the age of 13 years, and become more likely with increasing age. 24 , 25 Some parallel data, albeit limited, exists to support a similar conclusion for the analysis of rugby injuries. 26 …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Increased Risk of Fracture, Dislocation, and Hospitalization Are Associated With Collision in Contact Sports

Braaten

Banovetz

Braaten

et al. 2023

Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, and Rehabilitation

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Increased Risk of Fracture, Dislocation, and Hospitalization Are Associated With Collision in Contact Sports

Braaten

Banovetz

Braaten

et al. 2023

Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, and Rehabilitation

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“…However, injuries in both flag and tackle groups were lower than youth tackle football injury rates reported elsewhere. 6,18,28,31,37 Additionally, Peterson et al found that 23% of reported flag football injuries were concussions, which was equivalent to an incidence rate of 1.33 concussions per 1000 AEs and similar to the concussion rate for the tackle football leagues evaluated. The study was isolated to only 1 flag football league, and further details about head or face injuries were not provided.…”

mentioning

confidence: 85%

Emergency Department Visits From 2014 to 2018 for Head Injuries in Youth Non-Tackle Football Compared With Other Sports

Zendler

Jadischke²,

Frantz³

et al. 2021

Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine

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Background: Non-tackle football (ie, flag, touch, 7v7) is purported to be a lower-risk alternative to tackle football, particularly in terms of head injuries. However, data on head injuries in non-tackle football are sparse, particularly among youth participants. Purpose: To describe the epidemiology of emergency department visits for head injuries due to non-tackle football among youth players in the United States and compare the data with basketball, soccer, and tackle football. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: Injury data from 2014 to 2018 were obtained from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database. Injury reports coded for patients aged 6 to 18 years and associated with basketball, football, or soccer were extracted. Data were filtered to include only injuries to the head region, specifically, the head, ear, eyeball, mouth, or face. Football injuries were manually assigned to “non-tackle” or “tackle” based on the injury narratives. Sports & Fitness Industry Association data were used to estimate annual sport participation and calculate annual injury rates per 100,000 participant-years. Results: A total of 26,770 incident reports from 2014 to 2018 were analyzed. For head region injuries in non-tackle football, the head was the most commonly injured body part, followed by the face; the most common diagnosis was a laceration, followed by concussion and internal injury (defined as an unspecified head injury or internal head injury [eg, subdural hematoma or cerebral contusion]). The most common contacting object was another player. The projected national rate of head region injuries was lowest for non-tackle football across the 4 sports. In particular, the projected rate of injuries to the head for non-tackle football (78.0 per 100,000 participant-years) was less than one-fourth the rates for basketball (323.5 per 100,000 participant-years) and soccer (318.2 per 100,000 participant-years) and less than one-tenth the rate for tackle football (1478.6 per 100,000 participant-years). Conclusion: Among youth in the United States aged 6 to 18 years who were treated in the emergency department for injuries related to playing non-tackle football, the most common diagnosis for injuries to the head region was a laceration, followed by a concussion. Head region injuries associated with non-tackle football occurred at a notably lower rate than basketball, soccer, or tackle football.

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“…In addition, hospitalization rates are highest among children ages 8 to 11 playing football (9%). 22 Special attention should be given to patients in this age group to prevent morbidity from football injuries.…”

Section: Injury Patterns Of the Head And Neckmentioning

confidence: 99%

Head and Neck Injury Patterns among American Football Players

Mehta

Siegel

Cowan

et al. 2021

Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol

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Importance: American football is a popular high-impact sport, leading to 2.7 million injuries in the United States annually. Recent evidence in football-related neurological damage has spurred national interest in player-safety. Football players injure their head and neck in up to 26% of total injuries. Variation in injury patterns between age groups and correlated hospitalizations for football-related head and neck injury has yet to be characterized. Objective: Our aim is to evaluate injury patterns among American-football related head and neck trauma. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of patients with football-related head and neck injury in the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS). Results: Nearly 100 000 ED visits for football-related head and neck injuries occur annually. Males comprised 95% of patients, with a median age of 13. The head comprised 70% of injuries followed by the face (13%). The most common diagnoses were concussions (39%), internal organ injury (26%), and lacerations (11%). Pediatric patients were more likely to sustain concussions while adults experienced more lacerations ( P < .05%). Fractures and nerve damage were rare injuries but caused a disproportionate share of hospitalizations. Conclusion: Pediatric males are most likely to present for emergency care from football-related injury to the head and neck. Evaluating physicians can anticipate concussions, internal organ injury, and lacerations among presenting patients. Concussions, facial fractures, and nerve damage are injuries most likely to lead to hospitalization.

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Characterization of American Football Injuries in Children and Adolescents

Abstract: Level IV-case series.

Cited by 7 publications

References 25 publications

Increased Risk of Fracture, Dislocation, and Hospitalization Are Associated With Collision in Contact Sports

Increased Risk of Fracture, Dislocation, and Hospitalization Are Associated With Collision in Contact Sports

Emergency Department Visits From 2014 to 2018 for Head Injuries in Youth Non-Tackle Football Compared With Other Sports

Head and Neck Injury Patterns among American Football Players

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