Poster 376: Injury rates in NCAA student-athletes increased after COVID-19 lockdowns: A descriptive epidemiological study

• Published in: Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine 2023-07, Vol.11 (7_suppl3)
• Main Authors: Rosenberg, Samuel, Tanenbaum, Joseph, Terry, Michael, Tjong, Vehniah, Angileri, Hunter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: COVID-19; Epidemiology; Pandemics; Professional baseball; Shelter in place; Sports injuries; Student athletes
• ISSN: 2325-9671; 2325-9671
• DOI: 10.1177/2325967123S00339

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic altered sports at all levels of play and led to frequent schedule changes, abbreviated seasons, and disrupted training. The unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic meant that there was no evidence-based strategy to guide a safe return to sport after a prolonged suspension of play. During the season immediately following COVID-19 lockdowns, the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and multiple European soccer leagues reported increased injury rates. However, the effect of COVID-19 precautions on National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) student-athletes’ health and safety remain unknown. It is possible that the findings among professional athletes would be magnified among collegiate student-athletes because NCAA student-athletes are less likely to have access to the level of training, quality of equipment, and intensity of coaching necessary to maintain physical fitness and game readiness during a pandemic-induced lockdown compared to professional athletes. The purpose of this retrospective study was to address this gap in the literature by investigating the epidemiology of NCAA injuries during the 2020 season when compared to pre-COVID-19 seasons. It was hypothesized there would be an increase in overall injury rate and an increase in the number of days unavailable during the 2020 season when compared to pre- COVID-19 seasons. Methods: The injury surveillance database at a single NCAA Division I institution was queried for injuries that resulted in time loss for a student-athlete (missed game or practice), or for injuries that persisted longer than 3 days. Injuries were categorized by anatomic area. Days unavailable were recorded as total days that a student-athlete was listed as “out of activity.” Injuries and days unavailable per 1,000 athlete-exposures (AEs) were calculated for the pre-COVID-19 seasons (2017-2020) and the 2020 season. Results: Compared to the 3 pre-COVID-19 seasons, injury incidence per 1,000 AEs increased by 10.5% in the 2020 season (68.4 vs 75.6 per 1,000 AEs; Figure 1A). Total days unavailable decreased by 20.7% in the 2020 season (1,374 vs 1,089 days per 1,000 AEs; Figure 1B). Compared to female teams, male teams had a larger increase in injury incidence (16.4% vs 6.5%; Figure 3A) and a larger decrease in days unavailable (23.7% vs 10.75%; Figure 3B). Among individual sports, football had the highest injury incidence during the pre-COVID-19 seasons and the 2020 season (180.4