Injury Surveillance

Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and patterns of health conditions within populations of people. Epidemiologic research can produce valuable information about the prevalence and incidence of illness and injury including the risk of acquiring a condition and the effectiveness of preventive interventions.

Professional, collegiate and high school sports governing bodies in the United States all utilize injury surveillance systems to collect and regularly report (internally and/or externally) epidemiologic injury data for various populations of sports participants. Unfortunately, there is no epidemiologic injury surveillance system for youth sports participants in the United States.

The lack of a reliable source of injury data limits the ability to calculate meaningful estimates of youth sports injury rates and hinders the ability to effectively evaluate the impact of injury prevention and health promotion interventions. To meet the need for reliable and actionable data, CoachSafely, the National Council of Youth Sports (NCYS) and the Hospital for Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine Society (PRiSM) are collaborating to design and implement a National Youth Sports Injury Surveillance System.