Inclan Paul M, Chang Peter S, Mack Christina D, Solomon Gary S, Brophy Robert H, Hinton Richard Y, Spindler Kurt P, Sills Allen K, Matava Matthew J
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.
IQVIA, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA.
Am J Sports Med. 2022 May;50(6):1717-1726. doi: 10.1177/03635465211015435. Epub 2021 Jun 24.
Numerous researchers have leveraged publicly available Internet sources to publish publicly obtained data (POD) studies concerning various orthopaedic injuries in National Football League (NFL) players.
To provide a comprehensive systematic review of all POD studies regarding musculoskeletal injuries in NFL athletes and to use anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in NFL players to quantify the percentage of injuries identified by these studies.
Systematic review; Level of evidence, 4.
A systematic review was conducted to identify all published studies utilizing POD regarding ACL injury in NFL athletes from 2000 to 2019. Data regarding player demographics were extracted from each publication. These results were compared with prospectively collected data reported by the teams' medical staff to the NFL Injury Surveillance System database linked to the League's electronic health record. An ACL "capture rate" for each article was calculated by dividing the number of ACL injuries in the POD study by the total number of ACL injuries in the NFL injury database occurring in the study period of interest.
A total of 42 studies were extracted that met the definition of a POD study: 28 evaluated a variety of injuries and 14 dealt specifically with ACL injuries, with 35 (83%) of the 42 studies published during or since 2015. POD studies captured a mean of 66% (range, 31%-90%) of ACL injuries reported by the teams' medical staff. This inability to capture all injury rates varied by position, with 86% capture of ACL injuries in skill athletes, 72% in midskill athletes, and 61% in linemen. POD studies captured 35% of injuries occurring during special teams play.
The frequency of studies leveraging publicly obtained injury data in NFL players has rapidly increased since 2000. There is significant heterogeneity in the degree to which POD studies correctly identify ACL injuries from public reports. Sports medicine research relying solely on publicly obtained sources should be interpreted with an understanding of their inherent limitations and biases. These studies underreport the true incidence of injuries, with a bias toward capturing injuries in more popular players.
众多研究人员利用公开可用的互联网资源发表了关于美国国家橄榄球联盟（NFL）球员各种骨科损伤的公开获取数据（POD）研究。
对所有关于NFL运动员肌肉骨骼损伤的POD研究进行全面的系统评价，并以NFL球员的前交叉韧带（ACL）损伤为例，量化这些研究发现的损伤百分比。
系统评价；证据等级，4级。
进行系统评价，以确定2000年至2019年期间所有利用POD发表的关于NFL运动员ACL损伤的研究。从每份出版物中提取球员人口统计学数据。将这些结果与球队医务人员前瞻性收集并报告给与联盟电子健康记录相关联的NFL损伤监测系统数据库的数据进行比较。通过将POD研究中的ACL损伤数量除以感兴趣研究期间NFL损伤数据库中ACL损伤的总数，计算每篇文章的ACL“捕获率”。
共提取了42项符合POD研究定义的研究：28项评估了各种损伤，14项专门研究ACL损伤，其中42项研究中有35项（83%）在2015年期间或之后发表。POD研究发现的ACL损伤平均占球队医务人员报告的66%（范围为31%-90%）。这种未能捕捉到所有损伤率的情况因位置而异，技能型运动员的ACL损伤捕获率为86%，中等技能型运动员为72%，内线球员为61%。POD研究发现了35%在特殊球队比赛期间发生的损伤。
自2000年以来，利用公开获取的NFL球员损伤数据进行研究的频率迅速增加。POD研究从公开报告中正确识别ACL损伤的程度存在显著异质性。仅依靠公开获取来源的运动医学研究在解释时应了解其固有的局限性和偏差。这些研究低估了损伤的真实发生率，且倾向于发现更受欢迎球员的损伤。
