Incidence and characteristics of injuries during the 2011 West Africa Football Union (WAFU) Nations' Cup

BACKGROUND

Prospective studies on football injuries and their risk factors in the African setting are sparse. Such studies are needed to understand the peculiarities of injuries and hence proffer appropriate intervention for injury prevention in the region.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the incidence and characteristics of match injuries during the 2011 West Africa Football Union (WAFU) cup.

METHODS

Team physiotherapists from the participating teams documented all newly incurred injuries on standardised injury report forms using the Federation of International Football Association's (FIFA) Medical Assessment and Research Centre protocols.

RESULTS

An overall of 89 injuries were sustained during the tournament, resulting in 9.9 injuries per match or 289 injuries per 1000 player hours. Seventeen (19.1%) of these injuries resulted in loss of competition activity (time-loss), equivalent to 1.9 injuries per match or 55.2 injuries per 1000 player hours. Over three quarters (73; 82%) of injuries were incurred through contact with another player. The lower leg accounted for almost a quarter of all injuries (21; 23.6%) while the knee recorded the highest number of time-loss injuries (5; 29.4%). The most frequent types of injury were contusion (61; 68.5%) and strain (13; 14.6%).

CONCLUSION

The overall incidence of injuries during the WAFU cup was much higher than those of other tournaments ever documented but the characteristics of injuries were similar. In order to fully define the nature of injuries and more reliably identify the risk of injury for the establishment of injury prevention strategies that will be appropriate for this region of the world, it is imperative that further systematic injury recording and analysis in African players are carried out.

Myocardial ischaemia in sickle cell anaemia: evaluation using a new scoring system

BACKGROUND

Sickle cell anaemia (SCA) is associated with recurrent multi-organ ischaemia and infarction. Myocardial ischaemia (MI) and infarction are increasingly recognised as features of SCA. The prevalence and severity of MI in children with SCA is not known.

AIM

To evaluate the usefulness of a new scoring system based on the standard surface electrocardiogram (ECG) in determining the prevalence and severity of MI in children with SCA.

METHOD

MI prevalence and scores derived from standard surface ECGs of 35 children with SCA aged 3-18 years who presented consecutively during 38 episodes of vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) were compared with those of 40 age- and sex-matched SCA patients in the steady state and 40 anaemic non-SCA patients. In SCA subjects with VOC, ECG was repeated approximately 1 week and 4-8 weeks post crisis and the respective MI scores were compared with their intra-crisis ECG and those of the two other groups.

RESULTS

Mean (SD) MI scores were significantly higher during vaso-occlusive crises [1·82 (0·20)] compared with the steady state [1·15 (0·15)] and non-SCA anaemic controls [1·13 (0·21)], p = 0·017. SCA patients in crisis were 5·5 (1·20-13·99) times more likely to have MI compared with non-SCA anaemic controls (p = 0·025). They were also 3·66 (1·05-12·74, p = 0·042) and 7·58 (1·31-43·92, p = 0·024) times more likely to have mild and significant MI, respectively. MI scores derived from the post-crisis ECGs were similar to those of steady-state SCA patients.

CONCLUSION

ECG changes consistent with MI are common in children with SCA, especially during vaso-occlusive crises. Our proposed MI scoring system could be a useful screening tool for early detection of significant MI during crises, facilitating early institution of intervention. Further studies are needed to determine the specificity of the observed changes and to validate the proposed screening tool.