Incidence, severity and burden of injury and illness at the men's, women's and wheelchair Rugby League World Cup 2021.

OBJECTIVES

Describe the injury and illness incidence, severity and burden during the men's, women's and wheelchair Rugby League World Cup (RLWC).

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort epidemiological study.

METHODS

Injury and illness diagnosis and estimated return-to-play duration following consensus definitions were reported for men's (n = 16 teams), women's (n = 8 teams) and wheelchair (n = 8 teams) players during the 2021 RLWC.

RESULTS

Match injury incidence per 1000 player-hours was 91.2 (95 % CI; 74.0 to 111.1, n = 98) injuries for men, 115.4 (95 % CI; 88.1 to 148.5, n = 60) injuries for women, and 80.0 (95 % CI; 45.7 to 129.9, n = 16) injuries for wheelchair, with the mean severity of 17, 10 and 8 days. Training injury incidence per 1000 player-hours was 2.4 (95 % CI; 1.3 to 3.9, n = 15) injuries for men, 1.7 (95 % CI; 0.5 to 4.3, n = 4) injuries for women, and 6.4 (95 % CI; 2.1 to 15.0, n = 5) injuries for wheelchair. Match concussion incidence per 1000 player-hours was 11.2 (95 % CI; 5.8 to 19.5, n = 12) concussions for men, 19.2 (95 % CI; 9.2 to 35.4, n = 10) concussions for women, and 10.0 (95 % CI; 1.2 to 36.1, n = 2) concussions for wheelchair. There were 13, 5 and 3 episodes of illness in men, women and wheelchair.

CONCLUSIONS

Injury incidence was highest in women, whereas the highest severity was found in men. Concussion incidence was highest in women. The match injury incidence at the RLWC was similar to domestic elite rugby league. Different factors, such as variations in physical characteristics, rule differences, and travel could have contributed to injury and illness observations.