A comparison of paediatric soccer, gaelic football and rugby injuries presenting to an emergency department in Ireland
Introduction
The increase in sports participation in Ireland in soccer, gaelic football and rugby has led to an increase in the number of paediatric Sports Related Injuries (SRIs).17, 31, 35, 36 Worldwide, this trend has translated into increasing numbers of those injured interfacing with the hospital medical service.20 As a result of this, SRIs in children are now recognised as the second leading cause of emergency department visits and hospital admissions.11, 18, 34 Since the majority of SRIs of a serious nature initially present in this setting, an important opportunity exists for significant epidemiological and interventional study of these patients.20, 30, 33
However, after a detailed Pubmed search, it was evident that there was a paucity of detailed data regarding paediatric injuries in these sports presenting to the emergency department. Before strategies to reduce serious injuries are formulated, it is essential to have sport-specific data on the current mechanism, type, site and management of these injuries. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to collect up-to-date data on the nature and management of paediatric SRIs, presenting to an emergency department, in these three popular and widespread ball games played in Ireland.
Section snippets
Method
Data was collected retrospectively on all children under 17 years of age presenting with a SRI, to the emergency department of Cork University Hospital, a major teaching hospital and trauma centre in Ireland, over six consecutive calendar months from 1st Jan 2002. For each patient, the following data was collected: day of presentation, gender, age, sport, use of protective gear, mechanism, site, side and type of injury, previous sports injury, investigations performed, and management. All data
Results
Over a 6-month period, 409 children presented with SRIs in these three sports, with 27% reporting a previous presentation to the emergency department with an injury as a result of sport. None of the children reported using any form of protective gear. There were significantly more soccer injuries presenting than gaelic football (56% versus 24%***) or rugby injuries (56% versus 20%***).
At weekends (Saturday and Sunday) compared to weekdays (Monday to Friday), the mean proportion of injuries
Discussion
Previous studies on SRIs involving these three sports have tended to describe injuries in adults, or both adults and children.4, 8, 10, 22, 24, 25, 29, 36 Few studies have specifically investigated injuries in children under 17 years, particularly those in the youngest age groups under 8, who are often just beginning their participation in sport.17 Also, many studies omit vital detail on injury management.13, 30 In addition, since many of these studies were conducted in single sports, and some
Conclusion
Injuries seen in the emergency department are usually biased towards the more serious injuries, those needing emergency treatment, and those needing surgery. In many cases this treatment cannot be offered in a non-hospital setting. The results of this study provide a useful insight into the nature of injuries that present to the emergency department, and is the first study to exclusively compare such injuries in these three popular sports played by children in Ireland. In addition, it suggests
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These authors contributed equal work.