Sports and recreation injuries in US children and adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
To estimate and describe morbidity from sports and recreation injuries in children and adolescents.


METHODS
Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics--the Child Health Supplement to the 1988 National Health Interview Survey.


METHODS
The general community.


METHODS
Representative sample of the noninstitutionalized civilian US population. Five percent of the eligible households did not participate. The subject of this report is 11,840 children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 years.


METHODS
Medically attended nonfatal injuries resulting from sports and recreation, and serious sports injuries, defined as injuries resulting in hospitalization, surgical treatment, missed school, or half a day or more in bed. Sports and recreation injuries were defined as those occurring in a place of recreation or sports, or receiving any of the following International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) E-codes: struck in sports, fall in sports, bicycle-related injury, riding an animal, water sports, overexertion, fall from playground equipment or other vehicles, primarily skates and skateboards.


RESULTS
The estimated annual number of all injuries from sports and recreation in US children and adolescents is 4,379,000 (95% confidence interval = 3,147,000 to 5,611,000); from serious sport injuries, 1,363,000 (95% confidence interval = 632,000 to 2,095,000). Sports account for 36% of injuries from all causes. Cause and nature of injury are strongly related to age. Sports do not account for a disproportionate number of serious or repeated injuries compared with other causes of injuries.


CONCLUSIONS
Sports activities account for a large number and substantial proportion of all injuries to children and youth.
Bijur
P E
PE
Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.
Trumble
A
A
Harel
Y
Y
Overpeck
M D
MD
Jones
D
D
Scheidt
P C
PC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D012090:Cumulative Trauma Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011998:Recreation; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014481:United States