Injury patterns after skiing and snowboarding sports accidents

BACKGROUND: Alpine sports are associated with risk of serious injuries. To gain insight into factors that may help reduce injury severity, accident characteristics and injury patterns were analyzed in a cohort of injured skiers and snowboarders.METHODS: All patients with Alpine sports-related injuries, reporting the injury to a leading medical assistance organization in the Netherlands in the period of 2013-2016, were contacted. Medical data were collected from the patients' files. Only ski and snowboard incidents were included. Injuries were classified according to the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) and Injury Severity Scale (ISS). Data on the accident conditions, i.e. risk factors, were collected using retrospective patient-reported questionnaires. Risk factors for injuries with ISS >= 9 were analysed by multivariate modelling.RESULTS: Of the 1588 included patients, 421 patients filled out the questionnaire. Skiers (N.=1370) had more knee injuries (20.4% vs. 7.4%, P9) (P=0.01). Injured snowboarders sustained more brain concussions (8.8% vs. 15.7%, P=0.003) and lower arm fractures (5.4% vs. 16.1%, P