title: Injuries to individuals participating in mountain and wilderness sports:  a review.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this review is to summarize evidence on injuries occurring in individuals participating in mountain and wilderness sports.
  
  
  METHODS
  Scopus, ISI Web of Knowledge, SPORTDiscus, Ovid Safety and Health, Index to Theses, COPAC, and sportscotland e-library. The search terms were (mountain* or wilderness or adventure or climb* or (hill walk*)) and (accident* or injur* or rescue*) and (epidemiolog* or statistic* or pattern* or survey*). The search period was from 1987 to 2010.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 2034 articles were identified. The full text of 137 articles was retrieved. Fifty articles met inclusion criteria-mountain and wilderness; nonmotorized, leisure time, outdoor activities; and nonfatal injury. Skiing and snowboarding articles were excluded.
  
  
  METHODS
  Study design was classified using the "STOX" hierarchy of evidence. Study quality was rated independently by 2 reviewers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All studies were observational. Twenty-one (42%) were longitudinal, 20 (40%) were cross-sectional surveys, and 9 were cohort studies. A majority of casualties were aged 20 to 39 years. There was a clear male majority, 70% to 89% in most studies. The percentage of casualties who sustained severe injuries ranged from 5% to 10%--less than 10% were admitted to hospital. Casualties sustained an average of 1.2 to 2.8 injuries (most >1.6), which mainly affected the soft tissues; between 2% and 38% were fractures. Up to 90% of injuries were to the extremities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The majority of mountain and wilderness sports injuries are minor to moderate. However, some casualties have life-threatening medical problems, which may have long-term implications for return to sport and general well-being.
authors: Centre for Rural Health, Centre for Health Science, University of Aberdeen, Inverness, Scotland, United Kingdom. a.mort@abdn.ac.uk
authors: Alasdair
authors: A
authors: Mort
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Godden
mesh_terms: D056352:Athletes; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005121:Extremities / Q000293:injuries; D005260:Female; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009051:Mountaineering / Q000293:injuries*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D017695:Soft Tissue Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D055814:Wilderness