Abstracts public awareness and accessibility were issues that had a negative effect on sport participation. Participants were largely introduced to sport through personal contacts. It was concluded that public awareness of disability sport needed to be raised, and integration with able bodied sport clubs needed to be discussed. Access to equipment, appropriate management of funds, continued support, and increased media coverage were all concluded to help sustain and enhance disability sport participation. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2006.12.065 64 An analysis of patient load data from the 2003 Cricket World Cup in South Africa R. Stretch Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa Medical coverage for spectators, as well as teams, needs to be provided at large sporting events. This coverage needs to be able to cater for a variety of situations, from single cases to events with isolated major incidences or in extreme cases to a mass casualty or disaster situation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the patient presentation data for spectators attending the Opening Ceremony and all the 2003 Cricket World Cup matches (42) played in South Africa in order to provide organisers with the basis of a sound medical-care plan for mass-gatherings of a similar nature. This included the total number of patient presentations and the category of illness/injury and was used to determine the venue accommodation rate and the patient presentation rate. The illness/injury data were classified into the following: (1) heat-related illness, (2) blisters/scrapes/bruises, (3) headache, (4) fractures/sprains/lacerations, (5) eye injuries, (6) abdominal pain, (7) insect bite, (8) allergyrelated illness, (9) cardiac disorders, chest pains, (10) pulmonary disorder/shortness of breath, (11) syncope, (12) weakness/dizziness, (13) alcohol/ drug related, (14) seizure, (15) cardiac arrest, (16) obstetric/gynecological disorder, and (17) other. The total number of patients who presented to the medical stations was 2118, with a mean of 50.4 (range 14.7—91.5) injuries per match. The mean for the patient presentation rate was 3.95/1000 spectators. The most frequently encountered illness or injury was headache (954 patients, 45%), followed by fractures, sprains and lacerations (351 patients, 16.6%). The unique nature of cricket has shown a different patient presentation rate than for other
29 similar mass-gatherings, with the unique nature of cricket requiring additional factors be considered when developing a medical-care plan. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2006.12.066 65 Searching for injury in the mountains: ICD-10-AM to the rescue P. Smartt, D. Chalmers Injury Prevention Research Unit, University of Otago, New Zealand Injury in snow sports and ‘‘off-road’’ cycling in New Zealand appear to be increasing in frequency. It is thought that some of the ‘‘newer’’ sports, such as mountain-biking snowboarding and ski-boarding are contributing to this trend. National datasets are generally slow to reflect increases in participation and injury in relatively new activities resulting in missed opportunities for early intervention. Recent revisions to ICD-10-AM are intended to make it easier to identify injury in sporting activities. In this presentation we examine two questions. Are mountain-biking, snowboarding and ski-boarding injuries increasing? Have the recent revisions in ICD10-AM made it easier to answer this question? Data sources: hospital discharges (NZHIS), accident compensation claims (ACC) and Sport & Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) participation surveys. Case identification: a structured search procedure was employed using ICD external cause codes, relevant keywords and sports codes after linkage of NZHIS and ACC databases. Results: three different versions of ICD-10AM were implemented during the study period (2000—2004) each with a more or less significant impact on our ability to identify relevant injury cases using ICD-10 codes alone. Using all data sources, increases in hospitalised injury associated with ‘‘off-road’’ cycling and mountain-based snow sports were confirmed. The number of new inpatients for injury associated with snow skiing increased 28% while snowboarding and mountainbiking increased 66% and 41%, respectively. It was not possible to determine if ski-boarding was contributing yet to the injury profile of snow sports in New Zealand. Despite recent improvements in ICD10-AM, difficulties in case identification remain. doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2006.12.067