Abstract details
| Abstract-ID: | 2248 |
| Title of the paper: | Sex/gender-specific differences in incidence proportion, types of injuries, and related potential risk factors in recreational mountain-biking |
| Authors: | Pocecco, E., Ruedl, G. |
| Institution: | University of Innsbruck |
| Department: | Department of Sport Science |
| Country: | Austria |
| Abstract text | INTRODUCTION: As 99.0% of fatally injured mountain bikers in the Austrian Alps are males (Pocecco et al. 2022), it can be supposed men being at higher risk for severe injuries during recreational mountain-biking (MTB). However, as far as we know, possible risk factors for accidents and injuries during MTB have not been specifically assessed for and compared between males and females in Austria so far. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate possible sex/gender-specific differences in incidence proportion, types of injuries, and related po-tential risk factors in recreational MTB. METHODS: This retrospective survey was conducted in the surroundings of Innsbruck (Austria) in 2017-2019, involving randomly selected recreational mountain-bikers (n=1465, 37.8±14.3 years, 33.3% females). A standardized questionnaire was used to collect data on accidents and injuries ever experienced during MTB including circumstances related to the most severe injury. RESULTS: In total, 492 (33.6%) mountain-bikers suffered one or more injuries requiring medical attention. Females showed a significant lower incidence proportion compared to males (26.6% vs. 37.1%, p<0.001). The most frequent injury types were fractures in male (30.1%) and open wounds in female (20.9%) mountain-bikers (p=0.029). At the time of the accident, men showed higher MTB skills (p<0.001) and engaged in riskier riding behavior (p<0.001) compared to women. Additionally, males were more likely to be biking alone on the day of the accident compared to females (29.6% vs. 14.9%, p=0.007), who tended to ride in groups. CONCLUSION: Comparably to other similar leisure mountain sports such as alpine skiing and snowboarding (Ruedl et al. 2010), men were found to exhibit a higher skill level and engage in riskier driving behavior more frequently than women. Considering also the relation between riskier behavior and ACL-injuries in recreational alpine skiing (Ruedl et al. 2022), the present data support the hypothesis that individual risk factors and in particular the riding behaviour are associated with MTB injuries among males. On the other hand, biking in a group, which was more common among women, did not appear to result in higher incidence proportion due to peer pressure. These findings should be considered when proposing sex/gender-specific preventive measures for recreational mountain-bikers. References 1. Pocecco E, Wafa H, Burtscher J, et al. (2022) Mortality in recreational mountain-biking in the Austrian Alps: a retrospective study over 16 years. Int J Environ Res Public Health 19(19):11965 2. Ruedl G, Pocecco E, Sommersacher R, et al. (2010) Factors associated with self-reported risk-taking behaviour on ski slopes. Br J Sports Med 44(3):204-206 3. Ruedl G, Posch M, Tecklenburg K, et al. (2022) Impact of ski geometry data and standing height ratio on the ACL injury risk and its use for prevention in recreational skiers. Br J Sports Med. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2021-105221 |
| Topic: | Sports Medicine and Orthopedics |
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