Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Ellen E. Yard, Center for Injury Research and Policy, Columbus Children's Hospital, 700 Children's Drive, Columbus, OH 43205, 614-722-2400, yarde@ccri.net and R. Dawn Comstock, PhD, Center for Injury Research and Policy, Columbus Children's Research Institute, 700 Children's Drive, Columbus, OH 43205.

Ice hockey, lacrosse, and field hockey are popular sports among United States (US) youth. In 2004, 370,000 registered youth played ice hockey, an estimated 275,000 played lacrosse, and an estimated 60,000 played field hockey. A descriptive analysis of all pediatric ice hockey, lacrosse, and field hockey injuries captured by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) was performed to compare patterns of injury among pediatric ice hockey, lacrosse, and field hockey players. An estimated 23,059 pediatric participants of these three sports presented to US Emergency Departments yearly from 1990-2003. The injured were primarily male (74.4%) and aged 10 through 18 (95.4%). Ice hockey accounted for more injuries (53.6%) than lacrosse (26.5%) or field hockey (19.9%). Children aged 2 through 9 sustained twice the proportion of head and face injuries (53.1%) as children aged 10 through 18 (23.2%) (IRR: 2.29; 95% CI: 1.94-2.62). Males incurred a higher proportion of shoulder/upper arm injuries (14.1%) than females (3.1%) (IRR: 4.51; 95% CI: 3.07-6.62). The proportion of concussion was higher in ice hockey (3.9%) than field hockey (1.4%) (IRR: 2.75; 95% CI: 1.17-6.46). Females in lacrosse had twice the proportion of face injuries (20.9%) as males (10.5%) (IRR: 1.95; 95% CI: 1.46-2.60). A greater proportion of facial injuries in all sports were caused by the ball/puck among females (IRR: 2.48; 95% CI: 2.03-3.05). Understanding pediatric sport-, age-, and gender- specific patterns of injury should assist rules committees, coaches, and trainers in developing targeted preventive interventions.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, the participant (learner) will be able to

• Describe injury patterns among pediatric participants of ice hockey, lacrosse, and field hockey.
• Compare pediatric injury patterns between ice hockey, lacrosse, and field hockey.
• Describe the pediatric injury rate in ice hockey, lacrosse, and field hockey from 1990-2004
• List 5 specific potential prevention interventions for decreasing the injury rates among pediatric participants of ice hockey, lacrosse, and field hockey.

Keywords: Injury Prevention, Surveillance

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation