Epidemiology of injuries in elite male and female futsal: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The main purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis quantifying the incidence of injuries in futsal players. A systematic search was conducted using MEDLINE, PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus databases and subsequently six studies (14 cohorts) were selected. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed trial quality and risk of bias using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology statement and Newcastle Ottawa Scale, respectively. Quality of evidence was also determined using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Separate meta-analyses for male and female players were conducted using a Poisson random-effect regression model approach. The overall and match incidence rates in elite male futsal players were 6.8 (95% CI = 0.0 – 15.2) and 44.9 (95% CI = 17.2 – 72.6) injuries/1000 hours of exposure. Pooled training injury rate in male players was not calculated due to the lack of studies reporting training injuries in this cohort. For females, an overall, training and match incidence rates of 5.3 (95% CI = 3.5 - 7), 5.1 (95% CI = 2.7 - 7.6) and 10.3 (95% CI = 0.6 - 20.1) injuries/1000 hours of exposure were reported. In males, match incidence rate in International tournaments was 8.5 times higher than in national leagues (77.2 [95% CI = 60.0 - 94.5] vs 9.1 [95% CI = 0.0 – 19.3] for international tournaments and national leagues, respectively). Elite male and female futsal players are exposed to a substantial risk of sustaining injuries, especially during matches