Epidemiology of injuries in amateur boxing: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: To synthesise competition and training injury data in amateur boxing. DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Pooled estimates of competition injury incidence rates per 1000 athlete-exposures (IIRAE) and per 1000 min of exposure (IIRME), and training injury incidence rates per 1000 h of exposure (IIRHE) were obtained by fitting random-effects models. METHODS: MEDLINE, Embase, AMED, AUSPORT, and SPORTDiscus databases were searched from inception to 27 May 2022. Cohort studies with prospectively collected injury and exposure data from amateur boxing competition or training published in peer-reviewed journals were eligible for inclusion. RESULTS: Seventeen studies were eligible for inclusion. The competition IIRAE and IIRME summary estimates were 54.7 (95 % CI 33.8-88.4) and 6.8 (95 % CI 4.2-10.9), respectively. The training IIRHE summary estimate was 1.3 (95 % CI 0.2-7.0). The most commonly injured body regions in the competition and training settings were the head and neck (median: 72 %; range: 46 % to 100 %) and upper limb (median: 49 %; range: 40 % to 53 %), respectively. The predominant types of injury were contusions (median: 35 %; range: 5 % to 100 %) and lacerations and abrasions (median: 20 %; range: 0 % to 69 %) in the competition setting, and sprains and strains (median: 60 %; range: 50 % to 81 %) in the training setting. CONCLUSIONS: Amateur boxing athletes sustain, on average, 1 injury every 2.5 h of competition and every 772 h of training. There is a need for identifying injury mechanisms and modifiable risk factors that can be targeted by preventive measures to reduce the burden of injury in amateur boxing.

Boxing-related fatalities in Australia: A retrospective analysis of news media reports.

OBJECTIVE: To quantify and describe boxing-related deaths in Australia. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of news media reports of all boxing-related fatalities in Australia during 1832 to 2020. METHODS: Australia and New Zealand Newsstream, Factiva, Informit, Google News, Fairfax Media Archive, and Trove were searched from inception to December 31, 2020. News media articles reporting all-cause boxing-related mortality were included for analysis. RESULTS: There were 163 boxing-related fatalities in Australia during 1832 to 2020, including 122 (74.8%) professional and 40 (24.5%) amateur athletes. The most common causes of death were traumatic brain injury (n = 121; 74.2%) and cardiac arrest (n = 11; 6.7%). Boxing-related deaths occurred most frequently during the decades from 1910 to 1930. The fatality rate remained relatively steady from the 1870s through the 1930s, and then declined precipitously until the 1980s. Since legislation to regulate boxing started being introduced in the mid-1970s, there were a total of eleven deaths, of which all but one were caused by traumatic brain injury. CONCLUSIONS: Participation in boxing is associated with risk of death, in particular death caused by traumatic brain injury. The boxing-related fatality rate declined precipitously prior to government legislation to regulate boxing started being introduced, with no discernible further reduction in fatalities since. Given that a main purpose of government regulation of boxing is to protect the health and safety of athletes, the findings herein suggest that current regulations are either inadequate or not effectively implemented.

Injury incidence, severity and profile in Olympic combat sports: a comparative analysis of 7712 athlete exposures from three consecutive Olympic Games.

OBJECTIVES: To describe and compare the epidemiology of competition injuries in unarmed combat sports (ie, boxing, judo, taekwondo and wrestling) in three consecutive Olympic Games. METHODS: Prospective cohort study using injury data from the IOC injury surveillance system and exposure data from official tournament records at three consecutive Olympic Games (ie, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016). Competition injury incidence rates per 1000 min of exposure (IIRME) were calculated with 95% CIs using standard formulae for Poisson rates. RESULTS: The overall IIRME was 7.8 (95% CI 7.0 to 8.7). The IIRME in judo (9.6 (95% CI 7.8 to 11.7)), boxing (9.2 (95% CI 7.6 to 10.9)) and taekwondo (7.7 (95% CI 5.6 to 10.5)) were significantly higher than in wrestling (4.8 (95% CI 3.6 to 6.2)). The proportion of injuries resulting in >7 days absence from competition or training was higher in wrestling (39.6%), judo (35.9%) and taekwondo (32.5%) than in boxing (21.0%). There was no difference in injury risk by sex, weight category or tournament round, but athletes that lost had significantly higher IIRME compared with their winning opponents (rate ratio 3.59 (95% CI 2.68 to 4.79)). CONCLUSION: Olympic combat sport athletes sustained, on average, one injury every 2.1 hours of competition. The risk of injury was significantly higher in boxing, judo and taekwondo than in wrestling. About 30% of injuries sustained during competition resulted in >7 days absence from competition or training. There is a need for identifying modifiable risk factors for injury in Olympic combat sports, which in turn can be targeted by injury prevention initiatives to reduce the burden of injury among combat sport athletes.

The prevalence of adult de novo scoliosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Primary degenerative scoliosis represents a new scoliosis developing in patients with no prior history of spinal curvature. Researchers sought to determine the prevalence of this type of scoliosis. METHODS: MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Web of Science and PubMed were searched from inception to 28th March, 2018. Studies that assessed adults from the general population for scoliosis using imaging techniques were included. Studies were included only if the study authors had excluded participants with previously diagnosed scoliosis and/or spinal disorders. Mixed-effects logistic-regression was used to establish an overall prevalence estimate with 95% confidence intervals (primary outcome) and to examine the effect of age and sex (secondary outcomes). RESULTS: Four cross-sectional studies and one cohort study, involving 4069 participants (66.6% Female), aged between 41 and 94 years, were eligible for inclusion. Reported prevalence figures ranged from 13 to 68%. The pooled prevalence estimate from the mixed-effects logistic regression analysis was 37.6% (95% CI 18.7-61.8). Females were more likely to suffer from scoliosis compared with males (p < 0.001), with prevalence figures of 41.2% (95% CI 20.7-65.8) versus 27.5% (95% CI 12.2-51.1), respectively. Individuals aged < 60 years had a prevalence of 13% (95% CI 5.2-30.2), whereas the prevalence estimates were substantially higher in the > 60 age group [36% (95% CI 17.4-60.6)]. CONCLUSION: Primary degenerative scoliosis is a highly prevalent condition, especially in females. Further research targeting this type of scoliosis is required to obtain more precise global prevalence estimates and to understand the influence of age and sex.