Abstract
Purpose
To determine whether there is increasing surgical management of adolescent sports injuries and whether the average age of surgical patients is decreasing.
Methods
The Truven Health MarketScan Database was searched from 2008 to 2014 for patients 10 to 19 years of age using the
International Classification of Disease, 9th Revision
codes and Current Procedure Terminology, 4th Edition, codes for operative treatment for the following conditions: anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, knee collateral ligament (KCL) injuries, meniscal injuries, Osgood–Schlatter syndrome, and elbow ulnar collateral ligament injuries. Patients identified were characterized by sex, age, year of injury, and type of residence (urban vs rural) based on metropolitan statistical areas.
Results
A total of 516,892 patients sustained 1 of the identified injuries, and 133,541 (25.8%) patients underwent a related surgery. KCL and meniscal injuries demonstrated a consistent increase in the rate of surgical intervention (
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
P
= .02).
Conclusions
We found that surgical treatment of 5 common sports injuries remains stable, with only KCL injuries and meniscal injuries showing an increase in surgical incidence. Average age of surgical intervention did not change significantly over the 7‐year time span for any diagnosis.
Level of Evidence
Level IV, Cross Sectional Study.