Risk groups for sports injuries among adolescents - representative German national data

Abstract

Background Physical activity during childhood and adolescence is of major importance with regard to an individual's engagement with sports in later life. Apart from the physical trauma, sports injuries often have negative effects on the motivation to remain physically active. This study evaluates data to gain detailed knowledge on 1-year incidence and risk groups with the aim of providing information for the development of preventive measures. Methods Our data analysis is based on a net sample from a national study in Germany including 7697 children and adolescents aged 11 to 17 years. Within the statistical analyses, we developed weighting factors and calculated group differences as well as regression models for sports injury incidence. Results A total of 7.7% of the children and adolescents reported a sport injury during the last 12 months. Bivariate analyses showed significant associations between sports injuries and several social and lifestyle-related covariates. After adjustment for participation in leisure time physical activity, age, non-migrant status and residence in a large city remained positively associated with the incidence of sports injuries. Conclusions In comparison with other results for developed countries, the incidence seems rather high. It remains to be clarified whether this is because of our use of more accurate population-based data. The results suggest that while developing preventive measures, the interaction between preferences for high-risk sports and physical as well as psychological development has to be considered. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.