Emergency Department Visits for Injuries Sustained During Sports and Recreational Activities by Patients Aged 5-24 Years, 2010-2016.

Objectives-This report describes emergency department (ED) visits made by patients aged 5-24 years for injuries sustained during sports and recreational activities, the treatments provided at these visits, and variation by activity, patient age, and patient sex. Methods-Data are from the 2010-2016 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Sports injuries were defined by the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Edition, Clinical Modification and 10th Edition, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM) external cause-of-injury codes, supplemented by manual review of narrative text fields from ED medical records. Sample weights were applied to each case to provide national estimates of ED visits for injuries sustained during sports and recreational activities. Results-During 2010-2016, approximately 2.7 million annual ED visits for sports injuries were made by patients aged 5-24 years. The top five most frequent activities that caused ED visits for sports injuries were football (14.1%), basketball (12.5%), pedal cycling (9.9%), soccer (7.1%), and ice or roller skating or skateboarding (6.9%). Visits caused by playing football and basketball accounted for a higher percentage of visits by males than females (20.2% compared with 2.2%, and 14.3% compared with 8.9%, respectively), whereas visits caused by gymnastics and cheerleading accounted for a higher percentage of visits by females (11.8% compared with 2.1%). Visits for injuries to the upper extremities decreased with increasing age (37.1% for those aged 5-9 to 27.4% for those aged 20-24), whereas visits for injuries to the lower extremities increased with increasing age (16.2% for those aged 5-9 to 41.0% for those aged 20-24). Approximately three in four ED visits for sports injuries included an imaging service ordered or provided. Computed tomography scans were ordered or provided at a higher percentage of visits for patients aged 15-19 years compared with all other age groups. Analgesics, including opioids and nonopioids, were given or prescribed at 63.9% of ED visits, and this percentage increased with age (51.2% for those aged 5-9 to 74.4% for those aged 20-24). All material appearing in this report is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission; citation as to source, however, is appreciated.