Skiing, Snowboarding Linked to Fractures

In younger children, winter sports like skiing and snowboarding are linked to injuries involving fractures to the head or face, according to new research being presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2019 National Conference & Exhibition.

The research abstract, "Pediatric Snow Sport Injuries Differ By Age," will be presented from 4:20-4:25 p.m. Sunday, October 27, in the Jefferson Ballroom at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside during the AAP 2019 National Conference & Exhibition.

‘Parents of young skiers and snowboarders should be concerned about head injuries.’

Researchers looked at a cross-sectional analysis of the 2009 and 2012 Kids' Inpatient Database, examining 845 hospital admissions for snow sport injuries in kids. They found that over half of hospitalized children required major surgical intervention, and elementary school-age children were at significantly greater odds than those older than high school to suffer a skull or facial fracture. Middle school, high school and those older were more likely to experience intra-abdominal injury.

"We were interested to find that the type of injuries children had varied according to their age, and we believe these findings can better inform educational and legislative efforts aimed at reducing injuries in children who participate in winter sports," said Robert J. McLoughlin, MD, MSCI. "These injuries can be very severe and should be a concern to any parent with a child involved in these sports. Almost a quarter--23% of children--suffered intercranial injuries, which we found were more common among young children."

Of the young skiers who were admitted into hospitals in this research, 75.8% were male and 87.4% white. The injuries included: lower extremity fractures (28.7%), intracranial injury (22.7%), splenic injury (15.6%), upper extremity fracture (15.5%), and skull fracture (9.1%). Shruthi Srinivas will present an abstract of the study, available below, from 4:20-4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 27, in the Jefferson Ballroom at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside.

In addition, Ms. Srinivas and Michael Hirsh, MD, FAAP, will give a brief presentation about the research abstract and be available for interviews during a press conference starting at noon on Sunday, Oct. 27, in rooms 208-209 (Press Office) of the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. During the meeting, you may reach AAP media relations staff in the National Conference Press Room at 504-670-5406.

Please note: only the abstract is being presented at the meeting. In some cases, the researcher may have more data available to share with media, or may be preparing a longer article for submission to a journal.

Source: Eurekalert