Quality of information on risk factors reported by ski patrols.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the reliability of reporting of information on risk factors from a standard accident report form used by ski patrols and a follow up mail questionnaire or telephone interview among injured skiers and snowboarders.


METHODS
19 ski areas in the Canadian province of Quebec between November 2001 and April 2002.


METHODS
4377 injured skiers and snowboarders seen by the ski patrol, who completed a follow up mail questionnaire or telephone interview.


METHODS
Kappa and weighted kappa statistics were used to measure the chance corrected agreement for self reported ability, age, skiing time on day of injury, lessons, type of practice, use of helmet at time of injury, and hill difficulty.


RESULTS
The kappa value for helmet use at the time of injury was 0.88 (95% confidence interval 0.87 to 0.90) and for other risk factors ranged from 0.45 (skiing time on day of injury) to 0.98 (age). Few differences were seen in reporting by body region of injury. Reporting consistency was lower for respondents who completed telephone interviews compared with those who completed mail questionnaires and those who responded more than four months after the injury.


CONCLUSIONS
Moderate to almost perfect agreement, depending on the risk factor, exists between ski patrols' accident report forms and follow up information. Ski patrol reports can be a reliable and readily available source of information on risk factors for skiing and snowboarding.
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. brent.hagel@ualberta.ca
B E
BE
Hagel
I B
IB
Pless
C
C
Goulet
R W
RW
Platt
Y
Y
Robitaille
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000209:etiology; D005151:Facial Injuries / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D019838:Neck Injuries / Q000209:etiology; D011792:Quebec / Q000453:epidemiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012865:Skiing / Q000293:injuries* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000209:etiology*