Youth Sports Injuries According to Health Related Quality of Life and Parental Instruction

Abstract

Background: Participation in physical activity involves ¬ a risk of injury that has a considerable public health impact (1). Sports injuries are the major cause of morbidity among children and adolescents in developed countries (2). They account for half of all injuries in school age children. The relationship between sports injuries, health related quality of life (HRQoL) and parental instruction is still not clear. Objective: Determine sports injuries biosocial predictors in Portuguese youth. Methods: Information about HRQoL, parental instruction and sports injuries was assessed via three questionnaires; KIDSCREEN-52 (3,4), RAPIL II (5,6) and LESADO (1,7,8) respectively. They were filled by 651 subjects aged 10 to 18 years, attending four Portuguese community schools. Univariate analyses were used to verify significant differences between groups. Logistic, linear and multinomial regression analyses were used to determine significant biosocial predictors of injury, injury rate, injury type and body area injury location. Results: Injury rate was higher in boys with lower scores in school environment dimension of KIDSCREEN-52 (p = .022) and in girls was higher in those with lower scores of moods and emotions dimension (p .001) and higher scores of self-perception dimension (p < .001). Also in girls, upper limbs injuries were associated with higher scores of moods and emotions dimension and spine and torso with lower scores (p = .037). Lower limbs injuries were associated with lower father’s education and upper limbs (p = .046) and spine and torso (p = .034) injuries with higher father’s education. Conclusion: Surprisingly given the large number of injuries resulting from participation in sports and the associated high costs of health care, very few investigations have been conducted into biosocial variables and their relation to sports injuries. Injuries in Portuguese youth were linked to three dimensions of KIDSCREEN-52 (moods and emotions, self-perception and school environment) and father’s education level. Sports injuries usually result from the combination of several risk factors interacting at a given time (9). Understanding the role of social and environmental factors related to sports injuries is needed, as they can be a part of this complex equation.