title: Consensus statement on the methodology of injury and illness surveillance in FINA (aquatic sports).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Injury and illness surveillance in the aquatic disciplines has been conducted during the FINA World Championships and Olympic Games. The development of an aquatic-specific injury and illness surveillance system will improve the quality of the data collected and the development of preventive measures. Our ultimate objective is to enhance aquatic athlete health and performance.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective was to refine the injury and illness surveillance protocols to develop aquatic-specific definitions of injury and illness; define aquatic-specific injury location and causation; better describe overuse injuries; regard pre-existing and recurrent injuries; more accurately define aquatic athlete exposures and develop a protocol to capture out-of-competition aquatic athlete health parameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  FINA compiled an Injury and Illness Surveillance Expert Working Group comprised of international experts to review the scientific literature in the field. A consensus meeting was convened to provide an opportunity for debate, following which recommendations were collated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Aquatic-specific injury and illness surveillance protocols covering both the in-competition and out-of-competition time periods were developed. Definitions for all relevant variables were outlined, and documentation forms for athletes and for clinicians were proposed. Recommendations for the implementation of an injury and illness surveillance system for FINA are presented.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The FINA consensus authors recommend ongoing in-competition and out-of-competition surveillance to determine injury and illness trends over time. The implementation of the definitions and methodology outlined in this paper will improve the accuracy and value of injury and illness surveillance, and provide important information for injury prevention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) Sports Medicine Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland International Olympic Committee (IOC), Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mountjoy
authors.affiliation: Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC), Zurich, Switzerland Medical School Hamburg (MSH), Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Junge
authors.affiliation: International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Medical and Anti-doping Commission, Monte Carlo, Monaco Department of Sports Medicine, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.affiliation: Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre (OSTRC), Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Clarsen
authors.affiliation: Academic Center of Evidence Based Sports Medicine (ACES), Amsterdam, Netherlands Amsterdam Collaboration for Health and Safety in Sports (ACHSS), Amsterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Pluim
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Epidemiology, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, Jewish General Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Shrier
authors.affiliation: Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) Sports Medicine Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van den Hoogenband
authors.affiliation: Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) Sports Medicine Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marks
authors.affiliation: Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) Sports Medicine Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland Department of Medicine, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gerrard
authors.affiliation: Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA) Sports Medicine Committee, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Heyns
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaneoka
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Medicine, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Dijkstra
authors.affiliation: Department of Sports Medicine, Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar Department of Family Practice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Khan
mesh_terms: D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D032921:Consensus; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records; D012008:Recurrence; D012107:Research Design; D013178:Sports Medicine / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D013550:Swimming / Q000293:injuries*; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices
keywords: Aquatic sports; Illness; Injury prevention; Surveillance; Swimming