Background:

Health and safety concerns surrounding the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led the National Basketball Association (NBA) to condense and accelerate the 2020 season. Although prior literature has suggested that inadequate rest may lead to an increased injury risk, the unique circumstances surrounding this season offer a unique opportunity to evaluate player safety in the setting of reduced interval rest.

Hypothesis:

We hypothesized that the condensed 2020 NBA season resulted in an increased overall injury risk as compared with the 2015 to 2018 seasons.

Study Design:

Descriptive epidemiology study.

Methods:

A publicly available database, Pro Sports Transactions, was queried for injuries that forced players to miss ≥1 game between the 2015 and 2020 seasons. Data from the 2019 season were omitted given the abrupt suspension of the league year. All injury incidences were calculated per 1000 game-exposures (GEs). The primary outcome was the overall injury proportion ratio (IPR) between the 2020 season and previous seasons. Secondary measures included injury incidences stratified by type, severity, age, position, and minutes per game.

Results:

A total of 4346 injuries occurred over a 5-season span among 2572 unique player-seasons. The overall incidence of injury during the 2020 season was 48.20 per 1000 GEs but decreased to 39.97 per 1000 GEs when excluding COVID-19. Despite this exclusion, the overall injury rate in 2020 remained significantly greater (IPR, 1.42 [95% CI, 1.32-1.52]) than that of the 2015 to 2018 seasons (28.20 per 1000 GEs). On closer evaluation, the most notable increases seen in the 2020 season occurred within minor injuries requiring only a 1-game absence (IPR, 1.53 [95% CI, 1.37-1.70]) and in players who were aged 25 to 29 years (IPR, 1.57 [95% CI, 1.40-2.63]), averaging ≥30.0 minutes per game (IPR, 1.67 [95% CI, 1.47-1.90]), and playing the point guard position (IPR, 1.67 [95% 1.44-1.95]).

Conclusion:

Players in the condensed 2020 NBA season had a significantly higher incidence of injuries when compared with the prior 4 seasons, even when excluding COVID-19–related absences. This rise is consistent with the other congested NBA seasons of 1998 and 2011. These findings suggest that condensing the NBA schedule is associated with an increased risk to player health and safety.

中文翻译：

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浓缩的 NBA 赛季对受伤风险的影响：2020 赛季和球员安全分析

背景：

围绕 2019 年冠状病毒 (COVID-19) 大流行的健康和安全问题导致美国国家篮球协会 (NBA) 压缩和加速 2020 赛季。尽管先前的文献表明，休息不足可能会导致受伤风险增加，但本赛季的独特情况为在减少间歇休息的情况下评估球员的安全性提供了独特的机会。

假设：

我们假设与 2015 至 2018 赛季相比，精简的 2020 NBA 赛季导致整体受伤风险增加。

学习规划：

描述性流行病学研究。

方法：

一个公开可用的数据库 Pro Sports Transactions 被查询了导致球员在 2015 至 2020 赛季之间缺席 ≥ 1 场比赛的伤病。鉴于联赛年突然停赛，2019 赛季的数据被省略。所有伤害发生率均按每 1000 次游戏曝光 (GE) 计算。主要结果是 2020 赛季与前几个赛季之间的总体受伤比例 (IPR)。次要指标包括按类型、严重程度、年龄、位置和每场比赛的上场时间分层的伤害发生率。

结果：

在 2572 个独特的球员赛季中，在 5 个赛季的跨度内总共发生了 4346 次受伤。2020 赛季的总体伤害发生率为 48.20/1000 GE，但在排除 COVID-19 后降至 39.97/1000 GE。尽管被排除在外，但 2020 年的总体受伤率（IPR，1.42 [95% CI，1.32-1.52]）仍显着高于 2015 至 2018 赛季（28.20/1000 GE）。经过仔细评估，2020 赛季最显着的增长发生在只需要缺席 1 场比赛的轻伤（IPR，1.53 [95% CI，1.37-1.70]）和 25 至 29 岁的球员（IPR , 1.57 [95% CI, 1.40-2.63]), 场均 ≥30.0 分钟 (IPR, 1.67 [95% CI, 1.47-1.90]), 打控卫位置 (IPR, 1.67 [95% 1.44-1.95]) ]）。

结论：

与前 4 个赛季相比，2020 年 NBA 精简赛季的球员受伤发生率明显更高，即使不包括与 COVID-19 相关的缺席也是如此。这种上升与 1998 年和 2011 年其他拥挤的 NBA 赛季是一致的。这些发现表明，缩短 NBA 赛程会增加球员健康和安全的风险。