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The International Olympic Committee's (IOC) consensus statement on 'methods for recording and reporting of epidemiological data on injury and illness in sport' recommended standardising methods to advance data collection and reporting consistency. However, additional aspects need to be considered when these methods are applied to specific sports settings. Therefore, we have developed a snow sports-specific extension of the IOC statement to promote the harmonisation of injury and illness registration methods among athletes of all levels and categories in the different disciplines governed by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), which is also applicable to other related snow sports such as biathlon, ski mountaineering, and to some extent, para snow sports. The panel was selected with the aim of representing as many different areas of expertise/backgrounds, perspectives and diversity as possible, and all members were assigned to thematic subgroups based on their profiles. After panel formation, all members were provided with an initial draft of this extension, which was used as a basis for discussion of aspects specific to the discipline, application context, level and sex within their snow sports subgroup topic. The outcomes were then aligned with the IOC's existing consensus recommendations and incorporated into a preliminary manuscript draft. The final version of this snow sports-specific extension was developed and approved in two iterative rounds of manuscript revisions by all consensus panel members and a final meeting to clarify open discussion points. This snow sports-specific extension of the IOC statement is intended to guide researchers, international and national sports governing bodies, and other entities recording and reporting epidemiological data in snow sports to help standardise data from different sources for comparison and future research., Competing Interests: Competing interests: MM is a deputy editor, LE is an IPHP editor and BC and EV are associate editors at BJSM., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objectives: Our aims were (a) to describe the prevalence and incidence of self-reported injuries and illnesses of amateur golfers over a 5-month period and (b) to investigate potential risk factors for injury., Methods: We recruited 910 amateur golfers (733 males [81%] and 177 females [19%]) from golf clubs in the USA and Switzerland. The median age was 60 (IQR: 47-67) and the median golfing handicap was 12 (IQR: 6-18). Participants' health was monitored weekly for 5 months using the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre Questionnaire on Health Problems. Players also completed a baseline questionnaire on personal and golf-specific characteristics and their medical history., Results: We distributed 19 406 questionnaires and received 11 180 responses (57.6%). The prevalence of injuries was 11.3% (95% CI: 9.8 to 12.8) and of illnesses was 2% (95% CI 1.7 to 2.2). The incidence of injuries and illnesses was 3.79 (95% CI 3.54 to 4.06) and 0.94 (95% CI 0.81 to 1.07) per golfer per year, respectively. The injury regions with the highest burden of injury (time-loss days per player per year) were lumbosacral spine (5.93), shoulder (3.47) and knee (2.08). Injury risk was higher with increased age, osteoarthritis and previous injury., Conclusion: The prevalence and incidence of injury and illness in amateur golf were low compared with many other sports. To further reduce the burden of injury, future research attention should be directed towards the lumbosacral spine, knee and shoulder., Competing Interests: Dr AM receives remuneration from clinical and research services to professional golf organisations. Dr MLM is a deputy editor of BJSM and Dr BC is an associate editor for BJSM., (Copyright © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: A periodic health evaluation (PHE) is a comprehensive and multidisciplinary investigation of athlete health widely used in elite sport, but its contents and benefits can be questioned. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of conditions identified by a PHE among Paralympic and Olympic athletes over four consecutive Games cycles from Rio de Janeiro 2016 to Beijing 2022 and to assess the benefits and potential pitfalls of a comprehensive PHE programme in detecting existing injuries, illnesses and other health issues., Methods: We collected extensive health history and clinical examination data on elite athletes: medical history, ECG, blood pressure, blood samples, spirometry, musculoskeletal health, cognitive function, mental health and compliance with public health programmes., Results: The final cohort included 87 Paralympic and 367 Olympic athletes, representing 565 PHE cycles. Musculoskeletal problems and unspecified pain, infections and allergies were the most frequent health issues. High blood pressure was the most prevalent cardiovascular finding, and vitamin D deficiency the most common laboratory abnormality. Most athletes complied with the public childhood vaccination programmes, but fewer with recommended cancer screening. Follow-up of health issues was variable., Conclusion: Our PHE programme identified musculoskeletal problems, infections, allergies, elevated blood pressure and vitamin D deficiency as common health conditions. Longitudinal follow-up of health conditions identified during screening and improved compliance with public health and cancer screening programmes is needed to determine the true benefits of athlete care prompted by the PHE., Competing Interests: Competing interests: KS is the coeditor of the British Journal of Sports Medicine-Injury Prevention and Health Protection. In the period, these data were collected, the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center has had a non-financial research partnership with FitStats Technologies (2017 to present)., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

The study aimed to analyse incidence and characteristics of time-loss injuries and illnesses during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Of 838 male football players, 705 consented to participate. Team medical staff reported 82 time-loss injuries, corresponding to an injury event incidence of 5.6 injuries/1000 h of total exposure (95%CI 4.5 to 7.0 injuries/1000 h), with a median of 2 time-loss injury events per team (IQR, 1 to 4.5, range 0-7). The total injury burden was 103 (95% CI 61 to 152) days per 1000 h. Muscle/tendon injuries had the highest incidence of tissue types (48 cases, 3.3/1000 h (95% CI 2.5 to 4.4), and hamstring muscle injuries were the most frequent diagnosis (16 cases, incidence 1.1/1000 h, 95% CI 0.6 to 1.8). Match injury event incidence was 20.6/1000 h (15.0 to 27.7) and training injury event incidence was 2.1/1000 h (1.4 to 3.1). The majority (52%) of sudden-onset injuries were non-contact injuries, 40% direct contact and 8% indirect contact. We recorded 15 time-loss illnesses, corresponding to an illness event incidence of 1.1 per 1000 competition days, (95% CI: 0.6 to 1.8), and illness burden of 2.1 (1.0 to 3.4) days lost per 1000 competition days. The most common illness was respiratory infection (12 cases, 80%). Match injury event incidence was the lowest in any FIFA World Cup since injuries have been monitored.

Introduction: Most epidemiological studies in the field of military medicine have been based on data from medical records and registries. The aims of this study were to test a self-reporting injury surveillance system commonly used in sports medicine in a military setting, and to describe the injury pattern among Norwegian army conscripts during a period of military training., Method: A total of 296 conscripts in His Majesty the King's Guard were asked to report all injuries each week for 12 weeks, using a modification of the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire on Health Problems (OSTRC-H2). We recorded all injuries irrespective of their need for medical attention or consequences for military participation. In addition, we retrieved data on injuries recorded by military physicians in the medical record from the Norwegian Armed Forces Health Register., Results: The mean weekly response rate was 74%. A total of 357 injuries were recorded, of which 82% were only captured through the OSTRC-H2 and 3% only in the medical records. The average weekly prevalence of injury was 28% (95% CI: 25% to 31%), and 10% (95% CI: 8% to 12%) experienced injuries with a substantial negative impact on training and performance. The greatest injury burden was caused by lower limb injuries, with knee and foot injuries as the predominant injury locations., Conclusion: The OSTRC-H2 is suitable for use in a military setting and records substantially more injuries than the standard medical record. The prevalence of injuries among conscripts is high and comparable with many elite sports., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

The relationship between recent (acute) training load relative to long-term (chronic) training load may be associated with sports injury risk. We explored the potential for modelling acute and chronic loads separately to address current statistical methodology limitations. We also determined whether there was any evidence of an interaction in the association between acute and chronic training loads and injury risk in football. A men's Qatar Stars League football cohort (1 465 players, 1 977 injuries), where training load was defined as the number of minutes of activity, and a Norwegian elite U-19 football cohort (81 players, 60 injuries), where training load was defined as the session rating of perceived exertion (sRPE). Mixed logistic regression was run with training load on the current day (acute load) and cumulative past training load estimated by distributed lag non-linear models (chronic load) as independent variables. Injury was the outcome. An interaction between acute and chronic training load was modelled. In both football populations, we observed that the risk of injury on the current day for different values of acute training load was highest for players with low chronic load, followed by high and then medium chronic load. The slopes varied substantially between different levels of chronic training load, indicating an interaction. Modelling acute and chronic loads separately in regression models is a suitable statistical approach for analysing the association between relative training load and injury risk in injury prevention research. Sports scientists should also consider the potential for interactions between acute and chronic load., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © Biology of Sport 2024.)