Epidemiologic Comparison of Injured High School Basketball Athletes Reporting to Emergency Departments and the Athletic Training Setting

Context: Data regarding the epidemiology of emergency-transport incidents (ETIs) of patients with sport-related injuries are lacking. Understanding the use of emergency services by athletic trainers can help improve emergency preparedness and prehospital care for injured student-athletes. Objective: To determine the frequencies and types of ETIs resulting from athletic participation. Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Setting: Participating colleges and high schools during 2009–2010 to 2014–2015 and 2011–2012 to 2013–2014, respectively. Patients or Other Participants: Student-athletes in 23 high school and 25 intercollegiate sports. Main Outcome Measure(s): Data on injuries requiring emergency transport were collected by each team's athletic trainer via their respective online injury-tracking software. Athletic trainers also collected data on athlete-exposures (AEs). Emergency-transport incident frequencies and injury rates per 10 000 AEs with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported. For each ETI, the sport, body part, injury mechanism, and final diagnosis were recorded. Results: A total of 339 and 146 ETIs were reported in collegiate and high school players, respectively. Collegiate women's ice hockey had the highest ETI rate (1.28/10 000 AEs; 95% CI = 0.71, 1.86). In high school, football had the highest rate at 0.80 per 10 000 AEs (95% CI = 0.64, 0.97). Athletes with head or face injuries required the most transports in college (n = 71, 20.9%) and high school (n = 33, 22.6%) across all sports. Strains (n = 50, 14.7%) and fractures (n = 35, 24.0%) were the leading diagnoses for patients undergoing transport in college and high school, respectively. Conclusions: Athletic trainers should maintain a high level of emergency preparedness when working with sports that have high rates and numbers of ETIs. Athletes with injuries to the head/face required the most frequent transport across competition levels. Athletic trainers should have the appropriate equipment and protocols in place to handle these patients. Future researchers should examine the differences between field and hospital diagnoses to help improve prehospital care and decrease the likelihood of unnecessary emergency transports.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiology of Injuries Requiring Emergency Transport Among Collegiate and High School Student-Athletes

Hirschhorn

Kerr

Wasserman

et al. 2018

“…3 When secondary schools lack athletic training services, they may have to rely on coaches or administrators or immediate referral to emergency services when an injury occurs. 4 The former may not have the proper medical education to appropriately treat musculoskeletal injuries, and use of the latter considerably increases the health care cost and burden to patients, parents, and the community. 5 More than 7.8 million high school students participate in organized sports in the United States each year.…”

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confidence: 99%

Athletic Training Service Characteristics for Patients With Ankle Sprains Sustained During High School Athletics

Simon

Wikstrom

Grooms

et al. 2019

“…Such staff may help to reduce the burden of care provided in other settings such as hospitals, emergency departments, and specialty clinics. 12 Additionally, there is a large productivity gain for the parents of injured student-athletes, who would have to take time to transport their children to other service providers if ATs were not present in the schools.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, because many high school student-athletes do not have access to a full-time AT, 9 they may seek therapy offsite. 12 This contrasts with collegiate student-athletes, who have access to a full-time AT and may receive onsite care.…”

Section: Comparison With College-level Treatment Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Methods and Descriptive Epidemiology of Services Provided by Athletic Trainers in High Schools: The National Athletic Treatment, Injury and Outcomes Network Study

Kerr

Dompier

Dalton

et al. 2015

Context:Research is limited on the extent and nature of the care provided by athletic trainers (ATs) to student-athletes in the high school setting.Objective: To describe the methods of the National Athletic Treatment, Injury and Outcomes Network (NATION) project and provide the descriptive epidemiology of AT services for injury care in 27 high school sports.Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Setting: Athletic training room (ATR) visits and AT services data collected in 147 high schools from 26 states.Patients or Other Participants: High school studentathletes participating in 13 boys' sports and 14 girls' sports during the 2011À2012 through 2013À2014 academic years.Main Outcome Measure(s): The number of ATR visits and individual AT services, as well as the mean number of ATR visits (per injury) and AT services (per injury and ATR visit) were calculated by sport and for time-loss (TL) and non-time-loss (NTL) injuries.Results: Over the 3-year period, 210 773 ATR visits and 557 381 AT services were reported for 50 604 injuries. Most ATR visits (70%) were for NTL injuries. Common AT services were therapeutic activities or exercise (45.4%), modalities (18.6%), and AT evaluation and reevaluation (15.9%), with an average of 4.17 6 6.52 ATR visits and 11.01 6 22.86 AT services per injury. Compared with NTL injuries, patients with TL injuries accrued more ATR visits (7.76 versus 3.47; P , .001) and AT services (18.60 versus 9.56; P , .001) per injury. An average of 2.24 6 1.33 AT services were reported per ATR visit. Compared with TL injuries, NTL injuries had a larger average number of AT services per ATR visit (2.28 versus 2.05; P , .001).Conclusions: These findings highlight the broad spectrum of care provided by ATs to high school student-athletes and demonstrate that patients with NTL injuries require substantial amounts of AT services.Key Words: medical coverage, sports, injury surveillance, NATION Key PointsAmong 147 high schools from 26 states, 210 773 athletic training room visits and 557 381 athletic trainer services were reported during the 2011-2012 through 2013-2014 school years. Common athletic trainer services were therapeutic activities or exercise (45.4%), modalities (18.6%), and athletic trainer evaluation and re-evaluation (15.9%). Compared with non-time-loss injuries, patients with time-loss injuries accrued more athletic training room visits and athletic trainer services per injury. However, non-time-loss injuries required a larger average number of athletic trainer services per athletic training room visit. O ver the past 40 years, a variety of surveillance systems have documented the epidemiology of sport-related injuries.1À5 However, sports injurysurveillance systems have been hindered by 2 main limitations. First, most injuries included in such systems were limited to time-loss (TL) injuries, or those resulting in restriction from participation in sport-related activities for at least 24 hours.2 Second, although the athletic trainers (ATs) who contributed data to these injury-surveillance s...