Basketball has highest Incidence of Ankle Sprain in the United States

2010 Annual Meeting Podium Presentations

Foot/Ankle 3: Sports and Soft Tissue Disorders

Incidence of Ankle Sprain in the United States

Podium No: 715

Friday, March 12, 2010
05:12 PM - 05:18 PM

Location: Morial Convention Center
Room 347

Brian Waterman, MD El Paso TX
Shaunette Davey, DO
Philip J Belmont, Jr MD El Paso TX
Brett D Owens, MD Cornwall NY

Moderator(s):
Daniel C Farber, MD Baltimore MD
Justin K Greisberg, MD New York NY

The risk for ankle sprain is increased with second decade of life, black race, males 15-24 years old, females 30 years old or older, and exposure to selected sports such as basketball and football.

Ankle sprain is a common injury. While this has been studied in athletic cohorts, little is known of the epidemiology of this injury in the general population. A longitudinal, prospective epidemiological database was used to determine the incidence and demographic risk factors among the general population of the United States.

The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) was queried for all ankle sprain injuries presenting to emergency departments between 2002 and 2006. Sex, age, race, mechanism, and setting were analyzed.

During the study period, an estimated 3,140,132 ankle sprains occurred among an at-risk population of 1,461,379,599 person-years for an incidence rate (IR) of 2.15 per 1000 person-years in the United States. Males, when compared with females, did not demonstrate an overall increased incidence rate ratio for ankle sprain (IRR 1.04; 95% CI 1.00, 1.09). However, males between 15 and 24 years old had significantly higher incidence of ankle sprain than their female cohorts (IRR 1.53; 95% CI 1.41, 1.66), whereas females over 30 years old had higher incidence rates when compared with male cohorts (IRR 2.03; 95% CI 1.65, 2.65). Peak incidence of ankle sprain occurred in the second decade of life (7.2/1000 person-years), with peaks between the ages of 15 and 19 years old in males (8.9/1000 person-years) and 10 to 14 years old in females (5.4/1000 person-years). When compared with Hispanic race, black (IRR 3.60; 95% CI 1.03, 6.16) and white race (IRR 2.49; 95% CI 1.01, 3.97) were associated with significantly higher rates of ankle sprain. Nearly half of all ankle sprains (49.3%) occurred during athletic activity, with basketball (41.1%), football (9.3%), and soccer (7.9%) associated with the highest percentage of ankle sprain during athletics. The majority of injuries occurred in and around the home (47.9%), followed by athletic or recreation facilities (28.5%) and schools (14.5%).

In the largest incidence study to date, second decade of life and black race are associated with higher rates of ankle sprain. Males aged 15-24 had higher rates of ankle sprain than females, whereas females over 30 years old had higher rates than males. Half of all ankle sprains occur with athletic activity.