Paul Ryan W, Omari Ali, Fliegel Brian, Bishop Meghan E, Erickson Brandon J, Alberta Frank G
Rothman Orthopaedic Institute, New York, New York, USA.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, Stratford, New Jersey, USA.
Orthop J Sports Med. 2021 Sep 2;9(9):23259671211041359. doi: 10.1177/23259671211041359. eCollection 2021 Sep.
The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to the suspension and shortening of the 2020 Major League Baseball (MLB) season from 162 to 60 regular season games. The effect of this disruption on injury rates, specifically injury to the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), has not been quantified.
PURPOSE/HYPOTHESIS: The purpose of this study was to compare the rate of UCL reconstruction (UCLR), surgery timing, and pitching workload in MLB pitchers from before and after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. We hypothesized that UCLR rates relative to games played would be increased and pitching workload would be decreased in 2020 compared with previous seasons.
Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.
An extensive online search using publicly available data was conducted to identify all MLB pitchers who underwent UCLR between January 1, 2017, and December 31, 2020. Only pitchers who were competing at the MLB level when undergoing reconstruction were included. Player characteristics and surgery date, as well as career and season of surgery pitching workload, were collected for all included pitchers. All data were compared as a pooled sample (2017-2019 vs 2020).
A similar number of pitchers underwent UCLR during or after the 2020 regular season (n = 18) compared with the 2017-2019 seasons (n = 16, 20, and 16, respectively). However, after accounting for the decrease in games played during the 2020 regular season, an MLB pitcher was 2.9 times more likely to undergo surgery per game after the COVID-19 lockdown compared with the previous years ( < .001). MLB pitchers who underwent surgery in 2020 threw fewer preseason innings than did pitchers who underwent surgery between 2017 and 2019 (5.98 vs 9.39; = .001).
MLB pitchers were almost 3 times more likely to undergo UCLR per game after the COVID-19 lockdown. A decreased preseason pitching workload because of the COVID-19 lockdown may have had an effect on per game UCLR rates.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行导致2020年美国职业棒球大联盟（MLB）赛季暂停并缩短，常规赛从162场减至60场。这种赛事中断对伤病率，特别是尺侧副韧带（UCL）损伤的影响尚未得到量化。
目的/假设：本研究的目的是比较COVID-19大流行封锁前后MLB投手中UCL重建（UCLR）的发生率、手术时机和投球工作量。我们假设，与前几个赛季相比，2020年每比赛场次的UCLR发生率会增加，投球工作量会减少。
队列研究；证据等级，3级。
利用公开数据进行广泛的在线搜索，以确定2017年1月1日至2020年12月31日期间所有接受UCLR的MLB投手。仅纳入重建手术时处于MLB级别比赛的投手。收集所有纳入投手的球员特征、手术日期以及手术赛季的职业生涯和投球工作量。所有数据作为汇总样本（2017 - 2019年与2020年）进行比较。
2020年常规赛期间或之后接受UCLR的投手数量（n = 18）与2017 - 2019赛季（分别为n = 十六、二十和十六）相似。然而，在考虑到2020年常规赛比赛场次减少后，与前几年相比，COVID-19封锁后MLB投手每场比赛接受手术的可能性高出2.9倍（P < .001）。2020年接受手术的MLB投手季前赛投球局数少于2017年至2019年期间接受手术的投手（5.98比9.39；P = .001）。
COVID-19封锁后，MLB投手每场比赛接受UCLR的可能性几乎高出3倍。由于COVID-19封锁导致季前赛投球工作量减少，可能对每场比赛的UCLR发生率产生了影响。
