Citation

Docking SI. J. Sci. Med. Sport 2024; 27(5): e285.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Sports Medicine Australia, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsams.2024.04.007

PMID

38777496

Abstract

Money makes the world go round. We frequently highlight the cost savings that can be achieved through increased physical activity due to its associated health benefits and need for healthcare services. By the way, they are substantial and should not be minimised (~$AUD 1.7 billion saved to the Australian health system in 2018-191). But on the flipside, it's surprising how little we understand the financial impact of injuries in the sporting world. In 2018-19, the Australian Institute of Health estimated that ~$AUD 1.2 billion were spent treating injuries caused by physical activity.

This is not a new issue; a 2001 JSAMS article highlighted how focusing on one side of the coin can overestimating the financial benefits of physical activity and miss identification of opportunities to make sports safer, prevent injuries, and maximise financial savings.

Turnbull and colleagues have made an important contribution by summarising the 31 available cost of sports-related injury studies. Not surprisingly due to the diverse nature of sports-related injuries, a variety of methodological approaches were taken from how injuries were defined, the types of costs included, and perspective taken (i.e., who bears the costs). The need for methodological guidelines or checklist is critical for cost of sports-related injury studies as it's unlikely that one approach is going to be appropriate for all research questions.

But this article brings up the bigger issue for the sports medicine field; how do we build capacity to incorporate economic evidence in injury prevention? Economic evaluations are standard practice for pharmaceuticals or medical devices to support cost-effective funding decisions, yet their application in sports medicine/injury prevention has been limited. ...

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Cost of Illness; *Athletic Injuries/economics