Aim: The possible consequences of injury in soccer players could be a relevant public health issue, due the large diffusion of this sport around the world. We have evaluated the predictive value of both personal and professional characteristics on the occurrence of injuries and their severity in a prospective cohort study.
Methods: A cohort of 1 041 professional soccer players from the two Italian major Leagues was assembled during the season 2003-2004: 743 out of 785 subjects available the day of the interview (94.6%) answered an epidemiological questionnaire. A validation study was performed to assess if participating subjects were representative of the whole cohort. The risk of injuries and their severity according to several variables were assessed.
Results: A total of 157 subjects suffered 177 injuries during the season 2002-2003. Differences exist between injured and non-injured players according to both the number of matches played during the season and the League. A trend in risk of injury with anthropometric measures was observed, although not significant. The type of tissue and the type of injury were significantly associated with the duration of the stop.
Conclusion: Anthropometric measures and career history (such as type of League and number of played matches) could require further attention, since they seem to be predictive of injury occurrence in soccer players.