A comparison of high school sports injury surveillance data reporting by certified athletic trainers and coaches.
BACKGROUND
High school athletes sustain more than 1.4 million injuries annually. National high school sports injury surveillance forms the foundation for developing and evaluating preventive interventions to reduce injury rates. For national surveillance, individuals must report consistently and accurately with little one-on-one interaction with study staff.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the feasibility of relying on high school coaches as data reporters in a national, Internet-based sports injury surveillance study, using the same methods that have already proven successful in the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study, which calls on certified athletic trainers (ATs) as reporters.


METHODS
Prospective injury surveillance study.


METHODS
Eighteen United States high schools


METHODS
Athletic trainers and varsity coaches for football, boys' and girls' soccer, and boys' and girls' basketball.


METHODS
Quantity and quality of exposure and injury reports.


RESULTS
All enrolled ATs participated, compared with only 43.0% of enrolled coaches. Participating ATs submitted 96.7% of expected exposure reports, whereas participating coaches submitted only 36.5%. All ATs reported athlete exposures correctly, compared with only 2 in 3 coaches. Participating ATs submitted 338 injury reports; participating coaches submitted only 55 (16.3% of the 338 submitted by ATs). Injury patterns differed between AT-submitted and coach-submitted injury reports, with ATs reporting a higher proportion of ankle injuries and coaches reporting a higher proportion of knee injuries. The reports submitted by ATs and coaches for the same injury had low agreement for diagnosis and time loss, with only 63.2% and 55.3% of pairs, respectively, providing the same response. The ATs lacked more responses for demographic questions, whereas coaches lacked more responses regarding the need for surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
Whenever possible, ATs should be the primary data reporters in large, national studies. In high schools without access to an AT, researchers must be willing to devote significant time and resources to achieving high participation and compliance from other reporters.
Yard
Ellen E
EE
The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.
Collins
Christy L
CL
Comstock
R Dawn
RD
D000293:Adolescent; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001490:Basketball / Q000293:injuries; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005538:Football / Q000293:injuries; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012107:Research Design; D012307:Risk Factors; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012916:Soccer / Q000293:injuries; D013178:Sports Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology