Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
PLoS One. 2012;7(8):e43795. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0043795. Epub 2012 Aug 22.
Football (soccer) is endorsed as a health-promoting physical activity worldwide. When football programs are introduced as part of general health promotion programs, equal access and limitation of pre-participation disparities with regard to injury risk are important. The aim of this study was to explore if disparity with regard to parents' educational level, player body mass index (BMI), and self-reported health are determinants of football injury in community-based football programs, separately or in interaction with age or gender.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Four community football clubs with 1230 youth players agreed to participate in the cross-sectional study during the 2006 season. The study constructs (parents' educational level, player BMI, and self-reported health) were operationalized into questionnaire items. The 1-year prevalence of football injury was defined as the primary outcome measure. Data were collected via a postal survey and analyzed using a series of hierarchical statistical computations investigating associations with the primary outcome measure and interactions between the study variables. The survey was returned by 827 (67.2%) youth players. The 1-year injury prevalence increased with age. For youths with parents with higher formal education, boys reported more injuries and girls reported fewer injuries than expected; for youths with lower educated parents there was a tendency towards the opposite pattern. Youths reporting injuries had higher standardized BMI compared with youths not reporting injuries. Children not reporting full health were slightly overrepresented among those reporting injuries and underrepresented for those reporting no injury.
Pre-participation disparities in terms of parents' educational level, through interaction with gender, BMI, and self-reported general health are associated with increased injury risk in community-based youth football. When introduced as a general health promotion, football associations should adjust community-based youth programs to accommodate children and adolescents with increased pre-participation injury risk.
足球（soccer）在全球范围内被视为促进健康的体育活动。当足球项目作为一般健康促进计划的一部分引入时，平等参与和限制与受伤风险相关的参与前差异至关重要。本研究旨在探讨父母教育水平、球员体重指数（BMI）和自我报告健康状况与社区足球项目中的足球损伤是否存在差异，以及这些差异是否分别或与年龄或性别相互作用决定了足球损伤。
方法/主要发现：四个社区足球俱乐部的 1230 名青年球员同意在 2006 赛季参加这项横断面研究。研究构建（父母教育水平、球员 BMI 和自我报告健康状况）被转化为问卷项目。足球损伤的 1 年患病率被定义为主要结局测量指标。数据通过邮寄调查收集，并使用一系列层次统计计算进行分析，以调查与主要结局测量指标的关联以及研究变量之间的相互作用。调查返回了 827 名（67.2%）青年球员。1 年损伤的患病率随着年龄的增长而增加。对于父母受过较高正规教育的青少年，男孩报告的损伤比预期的多，女孩报告的损伤比预期的少；而对于父母受教育程度较低的青少年，情况则相反。报告受伤的青少年的标准化 BMI 高于未报告受伤的青少年。报告身体不健康的儿童在报告受伤的儿童中略有过多，而在报告未受伤的儿童中则过少。
父母教育水平方面的参与前差异，通过与性别、BMI 和自我报告的一般健康状况相互作用，与社区青少年足球中的受伤风险增加相关。当作为一般健康促进引入时，足球协会应该调整社区青少年足球项目，以适应那些有增加参与前受伤风险的儿童和青少年。
