TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hollander, Karsten Peter
A1  - Rahlf, Anna Lina
A1  - Wilke, Jan
A1  - Edler, Christopher
A1  - Steib, Simon
A1  - Junge, Astrid
A1  - Zech, Astrid
T1  - Sex-specific differences in running injuries: a systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-regression
T2  - Sports medicine
N2  - Background: Running is a popular sport with high injury rates. Although risk factors have intensively been investigated, synthesized knowledge about the differences in injury rates of female and male runners is scarce. Objective: To systematically investigate the differences in injury rates and characteristics between female and male runners. Methods: Database searches (PubMed, Web of Science, PEDro, SPORTDiscus) were conducted according to PRISMA guidelines using the keywords “running AND injur*”. Prospective studies reporting running related injury rates for both sexes were included. A random-effects meta-analysis was used to pool the risk ratios (RR) for the occurrence of injuries in female vs. male runners. Potential moderators (effect modifiers) were analysed using meta-regression. Results: After removal of duplicates, 12,215 articles were screened. Thirty-eight studies were included and the OR of 31 could be pooled in the quantitative analysis. The overall injury rate was 20.8 (95% CI 19.9–21.7) injuries per 100 female runners and 20.4 (95% CI 19.7–21.1) injuries per 100 male runners. Meta-analysis revealed no differences between sexes for overall injuries reported per 100 runners (RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.90–1.10, n = 24) and per hours or athlete exposure (RR 0.94, 95% CI 0.69–1.27, n = 6). Female sex was associated with a more frequent occurrence of bone stress injury (RR (for males) 0.52, 95% CI 0.36–0.76, n = 5) while male runners had higher risk for Achilles tendinopathies (RR 1. 86, 95% CI 1.25–2.79, n = 2). Meta-regression showed an association between a higher injury risk and competition distances of 10 km and shorter in female runners (RR 1.08, 95% CI 1.00–1.69). Conclusion: Differences between female and male runners in specific injury diagnoses should be considered in the development of individualised and sex-specific prevention and rehabilitation strategies to manage running-related injuries.
Y1  - 2021
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/62735
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-627350
SN  - 1179-2035
N1  - Open Access funding enabled and organised by Projekt DEAL. The research fellowship of Karsten Hollander was funded by the German Research Foundation (Grant Number HO 6214/2-1). No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this article.
N1  - A Letter to the Editor to this article was published on 04 September 2021. DOI: 10.1007/s40279-021-01548-0
VL  - 51.2021
IS  - 5
SP  - 1011
EP  - 1039
PB  - Springer
CY  - Berlin [u.a.]
ER  -