title: Feature-specific terrain park-injury rates and risk factors in snowboarders: a case-control study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Snowboarding is a popular albeit risky sport and terrain park (TP) injuries are more severe than regular slope injuries. TPs contain man-made features that facilitate aerial manoeuvres. The objectives of this study were to determine overall and feature-specific injury rates and the potential risk factors for TP injuries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Case-control study with exposure estimation, conducted in an Alberta TP during two ski seasons. Cases were snowboarders injured in the TP who presented to ski patrol and/or local emergency departments. Controls were uninjured snowboarders in the same TP. κ Statistics were used to measure the reliability of reported risk factor information. Injury rates were calculated and adjusted logistic regression was used to calculate the feature-specific odds of injury.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 333 cases and 1261 controls were enrolled. Reliability of risk factor information was κ>0.60 for 21/24 variables. The overall injury rate was 0.75/1000 runs. Rates were highest for jumps and half-pipe (both 2.56/1000 runs) and lowest for rails (0.43/1000 runs) and quarter-pipes (0.24/1000 runs). Compared with rails, there were increased odds of injury for half-pipe (OR 9.63; 95% CI 4.80 to 19.32), jumps (OR 4.29; 95% CI 2.72 to 6.76), mushroom (OR 2.30; 95% CI 1.20 to 4.41) and kickers (OR 1.99; 95% CI 1.27 to 3.12).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher feature-specific injury rates and increased odds of injury were associated with features that promote aerial manoeuvres or a large drop to the ground. Further research is required to determine ways to increase snowboarder safety in the TP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, University of Calgary, , Calgary, Canada.
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.forename: Willem H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Meeuwisse
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nettel-Aguirre
authors.forename: Carolyn A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Emery
authors.forename: Jillian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wishart
authors.forename: Nicole T R
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Romanow
authors.forename: Brian H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Goulet
authors.forename: Brent E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Hagel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000416:Alberta; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012865:Skiing / Q000293:injuries* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Epidemiology; Injury Prevention