Epidemiology of Secondary School Boys' and Girls' Basketball Injuries: National Athletic Treatment, Injury and Outcomes Network

Context: Little is known about non-time-loss (NTL) injury patterns in basketball athletes. Knowledge of these patterns may aid in the development of prevention and management strategies for patients with these injuries. Objective: To describe the epidemiology of time-loss (TL) and NTL injuries sustained by secondary school boys' and girls' basketball athletes. Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Setting: Eighty-six unique schools provided data, with 84 and 83 contributing to boys' and girls' basketball, respectively. Patients or Other Participants: Athletes participating in secondary school-sponsored boys' and girls' basketball. Main Outcome Measure(s): Boys' and girls' basketball data from the National Athletic Treatment, Injury and Outcomes Network (NATION) injury-surveillance program (2011-2012 through 2013-2014 years) were analyzed. Injury counts, rates, and rate ratios (IRRs) were reported with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: The NATION captured 2653 injuries over 364 355 athlete-exposures (AEs) for boys' basketball and 2394 injuries over 288 286 AE for girls' basketball, producing rates of 7.28/1000 AEs (95% CI = 7.00, 7.56) for boys and 8.30/1000 AEs (95% CI = 7.97, 8.64) for girls. The overall injury rates were slightly lower for boys (IRR = 0.88; 95% CI = 0.83, 0.93). For boys, 559 (21.1%) injuries were TL and 2094 (78.9%) were NTL, producing a TL injury rate of 1.53/1000 AEs (95% CI = 1.40, 1.66) and an NTL injury rate of 5.75/1000 AEs (95% CI = 5.50, 5.99). For girls, 499 (20.8%) injuries were TL and 1895 (79.2%) were NTL, producing a TL injury rate of 1.73/1000 AEs (95% CI = 1.58, 1.88) and an NTL injury rate of 6.57/1000 AEs (95% CI = 6.28, 6.87). Rates of TL injuries were similar between boys' and girls' basketball (IRR = 0.89; 95% CI = 0.79, 1.00); NTL injury rates were lower for boys (IRR = 0.87; 95% CI = 0.82, 0.93). Conclusions: When NTL injuries were included, the rates of injury in boys' and girls' secondary school basketball were higher than previously reported.