94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Injury Prevention and Control
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1532849
Sports injury and illness incidence at the 2021 Summer Universiade: A retrospective study of 6500 athletes from 113 countries/Regions
Provisionally accepted- 1School of Sports Training, Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu, China
- 2Clinical Medical College and Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University, chengdu, China
- 3Health Commission of Chengdu, chengdu, China
- 4Institute of Sports Medicine and Health, Chengdu Sport University, chengdu, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: To provide insights and recommendations for athletes, medical personnel, and event organizers on optimize healthcare services and preventive measures for injuries and illnesses by describing the pattern of injuries and illnesses sustained during the 2021 Summer World University Games. Methods: Medical records of athletes visiting Universiade Athletes' Village Polyclinic from July 22 to August 10, 2023, were anonymously analyzed to describe the injuries and illnesses sustained.Results: A total of 478 athletes visited the clinic, including 315 injuries and 163 illnesses. translating to 9.5 injury visits and 3.1illness visits per 100 athletes. A total of 4.9% of athletes experienced at least one injury, and 2.5% experienced at least one illness. The injuries involved 540 sites, primarily affecting the thighs, shins, knees, lower back, and ankles. Illnesses predominantly involved the respiratory system and digestive system. Thirteen cases of COVID-19, and single cases of H1N1 influenza, malaria, dengue fever, candida intestinal infection, and infectious mononucleosis were detected. Conclusion: Injuries and illnesses accounted for 7.4% of the participants. The injury incidence was lower compared to the Summer Olympics and slightly below similar Winter Universiade events, while the illness incidence was higher. Using the electronic medical record visit record data of the hospital information system in the athlete village to study athlete injuries is a method that can be adopted in future large-scale sports events. Taking appropriate infectious disease prevention and control measures can effectively prevent the prevalence of infectious diseases during international large-scale sports events. The athlete village of international large-scale sports events should be equipped with MRI to meet the diagnosis and treatment needs of athletes.
Keywords: Sports Medicine, Epidemiology, illness, injury, competition
Received: 22 Nov 2024; Accepted: 08 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Li, Liu, Li, Huang, Wang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Shiyun Li, Clinical Medical College and Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University, chengdu, China
Huang Huang, Clinical Medical College and Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University, chengdu, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.