Ski and snowboard injury patterns in the United States from 2010 to 2020 in pediatric patients.

Abstract

Children and adolescents are at higher risk of injuries from winter sports like skiing and snowboarding which can cause severe lifelong debilitation and death. The objective of this study is to perform a nationwide analysis of pediatric skiing and snowboarding injuries to identify patterns regarding patient demographics, type of injuries, outcomes, and admission rates. Descriptive Epidemiological Study. This was a retrospective cohort study of publicly available data. Cases were sourced from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) from 2010 to 2020 and included 6421 incidents. Even when the highest percentage of injuries was the head at 19.30%; the diagnosis of concussion was placed third while fractures were the most common diagnosis at 38.20%. The proportion of pediatric incidents by hospital type is changing with children's hospitals currently managing the majority of cases. These findings can assist clinicians in the ED across different hospital types in understanding the patterns of injury to be better prepared for new cases.