Prevalence and Injury Profile in Portuguese Children and Adolescents According to Their Level of Sports Participation.

Abstract

Introduction: Physical activity (PA) is beneficial, enhancing healthy development. However it is estimated that one third of school-age children practicing sport regularly suffer from a serious injury. These injuries tend to be associated with gender and chronological age. Our aim is to extend these associations to biological maturation assessed by maturity offset and bone age. Purpose: Identify the importance of age, PA level and maturity as predictors of injury in Portuguese children and adolescents. Methods: Information about injury and PA level was assessed via two questionnaires (LESADO and RAPIL II) distributed to 647 subjects aged 10 to 17 years involved in an epidemiological study. Maturity offset (time before or after peak height velocity according to Mirwald references) and Tanner-Whitehouse III bone age estimates were used to evaluate maturation. Binary and linear gamma logistic regressions were used to determine significant predictors of injury and injury rate. Results: Injury occurrence was higher for both sexes, in recreative, school and federated athletes. In boys, injuries also increased with age and in girls injuries increased in the higher maturity offset group. Injury rate was higher for both sexes in the no sports participation group. Early mature girls and girls with higher bone age and lower Maturity offset showed higher injury rate. Discussion and conclusions: Injuries in Portuguese youth were related to PA level, age and also to biological maturation. Recreative, school and federated athletes had more injuries ocurrences but no sports participation subjects had higher injury risk. Older boys and girls had more injuries. Early mature girls may be particularly vulnerable to sport injury risk due to physical and physiological processes of growth.