Citation

Timpka T, Schyllander J, Stark Ekman D, Ekman R, Dahlström O, Hägglund M, Kristenson K, Jacobsson J. Eur. J. Public Health 2018; 28(1): 94-99.

Affiliation

Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/eurpub/ckx053

PMID

28510641

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Despite the popularity of the sport, few studies have investigated community-level football (soccer) injury patterns. This study examines football injuries treated at emergency medical facilities using data from three Swedish counties. An open-cohort design was used based on residents aged 0-59 years in three Swedish counties (pop. 645 520). Data were collected from emergency medical facilities in the study counties between 1 January 2007 and 31 December 2010. Injury frequencies and proportions for age groups stratified by sex were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) and displayed per diagnostic group and body location. Each year, more than 1/200 person aged 0-59 years sustained at least one injury during football play that required emergency medical care. The highest injury incidence was observed among adolescent boys [2009 injuries per 100 000 population years (95% CI 1914-2108)] and adolescent girls [1413 injuries per 100 000 population years (95% CI 1333-1498)]. For female adolescents and adults, knee joint/ligament injury was the outstanding injury type (20% in ages 13-17 years and 34% in ages 18-29 years). For children aged 7-12 years, more than half of the treated injuries involved the upper extremity; fractures constituted about one-third of these injuries. One of every 200 residents aged 0-59 years in typical Swedish counties each year sustained a traumatic football injury that required treatment in emergency healthcare. Further research on community-level patterns of overuse syndromes sustained by participation in football play is warranted.

Language: en