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. 2018 Jun 13;13(6):e0198665.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198665. eCollection 2018.

The influence of a major sporting event upon emergency department attendances; A retrospective cross-national European study

Helen E Hughes  1   2   3 , Felipe J Colón-González  4   5 , Anne Fouillet  6 , Alex J Elliot  1   4 , Céline Caserio-Schonemann  6 , Thomas C Hughes  7 , Naomh Gallagher  8 , Roger A Morbey  1   4 , Gillian E Smith  1   4 , Daniel Rh Thomas  9 , Iain R Lake  3   4   5
Affiliations

The influence of a major sporting event upon emergency department attendances; A retrospective cross-national European study

Helen E Hughes et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Major sporting events may influence attendance levels at hospital emergency departments (ED). Previous research has focussed on the impact of single games, or wins/losses for specific teams/countries, limiting wider generalisations. Here we explore the impact of the Euro 2016 football championships on ED attendances across four participating nations (England, France, Northern Ireland, Wales), using a single methodology. Match days were found to have no significant impact upon daily ED attendances levels. Focussing upon hourly attendances, ED attendances across all countries in the four hour pre-match period were statistically significantly lower than would be expected (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.94-0.99) and further reduced during matches (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.91-0.97). In the 4 hour post-match period there was no significant increase in attendances (OR 1.01, 95% CI 0.99-1.04). However, these impacts were highly variable between individual matches: for example in the 4 hour period following the final, involving France, the number of ED attendances in France increased significantly (OR 1.27, 95% CI 1.13-1.42). Overall our results indicate relatively small impacts of major sporting events upon ED attendances. The heterogeneity observed makes it difficult for health providers to predict how major sporting events may affect ED attendances but supports the future development of compatible systems in different countries to support cross-border public health surveillance.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Hourly ED attendances, France, selected Sunday/Monday 48 hour periods during Euro 2016; football match times involving France are highlighted.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Odds ratios of ED attendance levels compared to the same time of day with no match for all matches, in total, by country and by weekday/ weekend (in total).
Fig 3
Fig 3. Odds ratios of ED attendance levels compared to the same time of day with no match by gender and by age group, by country.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Odds ratios of ED attendance levels compared to the same time of day with no match for individual matches, by country.
Fig 5
Fig 5. Odds ratios of daily ED attendances for alcohol and myocardial ischaemia (MI), in England, France and Northern Ireland, compared to days with no match: Pre-match, match and post-match days, by weekday/weekend.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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