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. 2018 Mar 19;6(3):2325967118760536.
doi: 10.1177/2325967118760536. eCollection 2018 Mar.

Does the Reliability of Reporting in Injury Surveillance Studies Depend on Injury Definition?

Matthew Cross  1   2 , Sean Williams  2 , Simon P T Kemp  1 , Colin Fuller  3 , Aileen Taylor  4 , John Brooks  5 , Grant Trewartha  2 , Keith Stokes  2
Affiliations

Does the Reliability of Reporting in Injury Surveillance Studies Depend on Injury Definition?

Matthew Cross et al. Orthop J Sports Med. .

Abstract

Background: Choosing an appropriate definition for injury in injury surveillance studies is essential to ensure a balance among reporting reliability, providing an accurate representation of injury risk, and describing the nature of the clinical demand.

Purpose: To provide guidance on the choice of injury definition for injury surveillance studies by comparing within- and between-team variability in injury incidence with >24-hour and >7-day time-loss injury definitions in a large multiteam injury surveillance study.

Study design: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 2.

Methods: Injury data were reported for 2248 professional rugby union players from 15 Premiership Rugby clubs over 12 seasons. Within-team percentage coefficient of variation and mean between-team standard deviation (expressed as a percentage coefficient of variation) in injury incidence rates (injuries per 1000 player match hours) were calculated. For both variables, a comparison was made between >24-hour and >7-day injury incidence rates in terms of the magnitude of the observed effects.

Results: The overall mean incidence across the population with a >24-hour time-loss injury definition was approximately double the reported incidence with the >7-day definition. There was a 10% higher between-team variation in match injury incidence rates with the >24-hour time-loss definition versus the >7-day definition.

Conclusion: There was a likely higher degree of between-team variation in match injury incidence rates with a >24-hour time-loss definition than with a >7-day definition of injury. However, in professional sports settings, it is likely that the benefits of using a more inclusive definition of injury (improved understanding of clinical demand and the appropriate and accurate reporting of injury risk) outweigh the small increase in variation in reporting consistency.

Keywords: epidemiology; injury surveillance; rugby union.

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Conflict of interest statement

One or more of the authors has declared the following potential conflict of interest or source of funding: This study received financial contributions from the Rugby Football Union, Premiership Rugby, and the University of Bath. M.C. and S.P.T.K. work for the Rugby Football Union. K.S., S.W., and G.T. have all received research funding from the Rugby Football Union. C.F., A.T., and J.B. were consultants for the Rugby Football Union.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Rate ratio (using the >7-day time-loss definition as reference) for within-team and between-team reporting variability. Data labels give the percentage likelihood that the effect is lower | trivial | higher, and associated qualitative inference. Dotted lines represent thresholds for smallest worthwhile difference (0.90 and 1.11).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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