Citation

Hamilton GM, Meeuwisse WH, Emery CA, Shrier I. Scand. J. Med. Sci. Sports 2012; 22(3): 330-334.

Affiliation

Roger Jackson Centre for Health and Wellness Research, Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary Sport Medicine Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Department of Community Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Alberta Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Calgary, Alberta, Canada Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Community Studies, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1600-0838.2010.01245.x

PMID

21129034

Abstract

A secondary data analysis of a prospective cohort study was conducted to explore how different definitions of injury affect the results of risk factor analyses. Modern circus artists (n=1281) were followed for 828 547 performances over a period of 49 months (2004-2008). A univariate risk factor analysis (age, sex, nationality, artist role) estimating incidence rate ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) was conducted using three injury definitions: (1) medical attention injuries, (2) time-loss injuries resulting in ≥1 missed performances (TL-1) and (3) time-loss injuries resulting in >15 missed performances (TL-15). Results of the risk factor analysis were dependent on the injury definition. Sex (females to male; IRR=1.13, 95% CI; 1.02-1.25) and age over 30 (<20 years to >30 years; IRR=1.37, 95% CI; 1.07-1.79) were risk factors for medical attention injuries only. Risk of injury for Europeans compared with North Americans was higher for TL-1 and TL-15 injuries compared with medical attention injuries. Finally, non-sudden load artists (low-impact acts) were less likely than sudden load artists (high-impact acts) to have TL-1 injuries, but the risk of medical attention injuries was similar. The choice of injury definition can have effects on the magnitude and direction of risk factor analyses.

Language: en