Huffman WH, Jia L, Pirruccio K, Li X, Hecht AC, Parisien RL. Acute Vertebral Fractures in Skiing and Snowboarding: A 20-Year Sex-Specific Analysis of National Injury Data.
Orthop J Sports Med 2022;
10:23259671221105486. [PMID:
35837441 PMCID:
PMC9274405 DOI:
10.1177/23259671221105486]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Background:
The epidemiology of acute vertebral fractures (AVFs) sustained while skiing
and snowboarding remains poorly defined in the United States.
Hypothesis:
It was hypothesized that there would be no significant differences across sex
and a greater number of AVFs in younger age groups associated with skiing
and snowboarding.
Study Design:
Descriptive epidemiological study.
Methods:
The authors utilized the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System to
identify patients who were reported in emergency departments in the United
States from 2000 to 2019. All patients were noted to have sustained AVFs
during skiing or snowboarding. National estimates and demographic analysis
were performed.
Results:
A total of 466 AVFs were identified, or roughly 23.3 AVFs per year. Compared
with women, men accounted for the majority of AVFs sustained in both skiing
and snowboarding: 67.8% (95% CI, 62.6%-73.0%) during skiing and 82.1% (95%
CI, 76.3%-87.8%) during snowboarding. This represented a significantly
larger percentage of AVFs while snowboarding compared with skiing
(P = .002). Women accounted for 32.2% (95% CI,
27.0%-37.4%) of AVFs while skiing and 17.9% (95% CI, 12.2%-23.7%) while
snowboarding, which indicated a significantly larger percentage of AVFs
sustained during skiing compared with snowboarding (P =
.002). Snowboarders were more likely than skiers to sustain an AVF in the
region of the coccyx (21.5% [95% CI, 14.3%-28.7%] vs 11.5% [95% CI,
3.5%-16.9%], respectively; P = .003) and as a result of a
fall at ground level (69.2% [95% CI, 62.1%-76.4%] vs 52.8% [95% CI,
43.2%-62.4%], respectively; P = .009). A significant
decrease in the number of snowboarding-related AVFs was identified over the
20-year study period: 899 in 2000-2003 versus 283 in 2016-2019
(P < .01). The change in skiing-related AVFs over
the study period was not statistically significant (694 vs 462;
P = .5).
Conclusion:
This national study of AVFs sustained while skiing and snowboarding
identified critical sex- and age-specific differences in the population at
risk, anatomic location of injury, and mechanism of injury. The national
data generated from this study over a 20-year period may be utilized to
better inform public health injury awareness and prevention initiatives in
the rapidly growing sports of skiing and snowboarding.
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