The causes and consequences of injury in students at UK institutes of higher education

Summary

Background

Injuries are the leading cause of mortality and also an important cause of permanent disability in young people living in developed countries. This study aimed to inform injury prevention programmes by assessing the incidence of injury and disabling injury, and identifying factors predicting injury in students at institutes of higher education, an under-researched group with regard to injury studies.

Methods

Secondary analysis of data obtained from a postal questionnaire survey of 1208 students at three institutions in the UK.

Results

Eighteen percent (222/1208) of students reported at least one injury requiring medical attention in the last year. Males and younger students were at greater risk, as were those who reported ‘seeking out risky activities because they enjoyed potential danger’. Seventy-nine percent of reported injuries caused some degree of, at least temporary, disability. Four percent of students reported an injury in the last year that interfered with studies, work or other regular daily activities for at least 1 month. Team sports increased the risk of injury by a factor of 2.5 independently of age, gender and risk-taking attitudes. Sport/physical activity injuries were much more likely to be disabling than injuries attributable to other causes.

Conclusions

There is a need for injury prevention programmes among students at institutes of higher education. Programmes need to disseminate the risk of disabling injury, particularly that attributable to participation in sport/physical activity. There is an urgent need for those working on injury prevention to collaborate with those working on other aspects of health promotion to define the net health gain from participation in sport/physical activity and to develop coherent public health messages.

Introduction

Injuries are the leading cause of mortality in young people living in developed countries. They are also an important cause of permanent disability¹ in this age group, but studies reporting the extent of morbidity attributable to injury are relatively rare.

In the developed world, students at universities and other institutes of higher education (IHE) represent an increasingly large proportion of the total population of young people over 18 years of age. Their health beliefs and health-related behaviours are important because, as future professionals, senior managers and policy makers, they may be in a position to have an influence over other people's health. They are, however, a relatively under-researched group, and few of the studies on health and health-related lifestyles that have been carried out in this group have collected data on injury. One survey of university students in Finland found that approximately one in 10 sustained an injury requiring medical or dental care each year.² Another Scandinavian study suggested that students may be at greater risk of injury than their peers in the general population.³ Most studies that investigate injury risk in ‘students’ have reported rates in students at school.4, 5, 6, 7

Studies carried out in young people show that the majority of non-fatal injuries occur while taking part in sport activities.2, 4, 5, 8 A positive association has also been shown between risk-taking attitudes and the likelihood of sustaining an injury, but overall there is no clear evidence that participation in sports is linked with adoption of other high-risk behaviours like alcohol and drug misuse.6, 9, 10

Injury prevention programmes are developed on the basis of information about the magnitude of health problems caused by different types of injuries and the factors that increase their risk. We report the results of a study in which this information was obtained for a representative sample of students from three IHEs in South-east England. In particular, we report on the extent of disability attributable to injuries and on their predictive factors.