An epidemiologic study of ski injuries: Vail, Colorado
Jaffin, B.
Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine new York 48(4): 353-359
1981
ISSN/ISBN: 0027-2507 PMID: 6975887 Document Number: 179858
Skiing is one of the most rapidly growing participant sports in the world. Despite advances in the reliability and safety of the equipment, the injury rate remains the same. This study was designed to focus on the holiday skier; specifically, how the injured skiers differ from noninjured skiers, and the common denominators among these injured skiers. All reported ski injuries during a 2-wk interval from Dec. 26 through Jan. 8, 1980, in Vail were evaluated: 194 reported to the Vail Medical Center emergency room [ER] and 305 reported to the clinic yielding an overall accident rate of 3.34 injured skiers per 1000 days from a population of 149,300 skiers. A questionnaire was administered to the injured group seen in the ER and results compared to a randomly selected at-risk population. This injured group significantly tended to be younger, female and less experienced. Lower extremity injuries outnumbered upper extremity injuries 2 to 1, yet this varied with ability. The odds-ratio was calculated for the sex, age and ability of the skier and specific recommendations were formulated for high risk groups.