Cost of injuries from a prospective cohort study of North Carolina high school athletes

Objective:To estimate the economic cost of injuries in a population of US high school varsity athletes.Design and Setting:The North Carolina High School Athletic Injury Study, conducted from 1996 to 1999, was a prospective cohort study of injury incidence and severity. A two-stage cluster sampling technique was used to select athletic teams from 100 high schools in North Carolina. An injury cost model was used to estimate the economic cost of injury.Participants:Varsity athletes from 12 sports: football, girls’ and boy’s soccer, girls’ and boys’ track, girls’ and boy’s basketball, baseball, softball, wrestling, volleyball, and cheerleading.Main outcome measures:Descriptive data were collected at the time of injury. Three types of costs were estimated: medical, human capital (medical costs plus loss of future earnings), and comprehensive (human capital costs plus lost quality of life).Results:The annual statewide estimates were $9.9 million in medical costs, $44.7 million in human capital costs, and $144.6 million in comprehensive costs. The mean medical cost was $709 per injury (95% CI $542 to $927), $2223 per injury (95% CI $1709 to $2893) in human capital costs, and $10 432 per injury (95% CI $8062 to $13 449) in comprehensive costs. Sport and competition division were significant predictors of injury costs.Conclusions:Injuries among high school athletes represent a significant economic cost to society. Further research should estimate costs in additional populations to begin to develop cost-effective sports injury prevention programs.