TY - JOUR
T1 - Analysis of competitive sports ineligibility in eight years of activity of the South Tyrolean provincial Sports Medicine service
AU - Assis, Elio
AU - Libener, Elettra
AU - Grossgasteiger, Simone
AU - Marine, Ottavio
AU - Naso, Agostino
AU - Coscia, Francesco
AU - Tegon, Giovanna
AU - De Nigris, Vincenzo M.
AU - Resnyak, Stefan
N1 - Lehr-KH South Tyrol Health Authority (SABES-ASDAA), Bolzano, Italy; Teaching Hospital of Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Italy
PY - 2024/3
Y1 - 2024/3
N2 - BACKGROUND: The provincial Sports Medicine Service of the South Tyrolean Health Company is a complex operating unit that employs a team of doctors and nurses working with preventive and care objectives: approximately 26,000 annual services are provided each year in order to issue certificates of fitness for competitive sports, fitness for firefighter wearing self-contained breathing apparatus, fitness for civil defense workers, and assistance and control of disabled athletes. An analysis of the unsuitability for competitive sports shows that 79% relates to cardiological causes, 23% of which to ischemic heart disease (of which 9% to patients undergoing stenting or coronary artery bypass). METHODS: Approximately 208,000 medical records of services provided in the provincial service of Sports Medicine of the South Tyrolean Health Authority were analyzed, specifically at the Bolzano, Merano, Brunico and Bressanone sites, and from these the causes of unsuitability for competitive sports were extrapolated. RESULTS: In the period from 2014 to 2022, approximately 208,000 services were provided in the provincial sports medicine service of the South Tyrolean Health Authority, for which 695 (0.33%) users were made unsuitable for competitive sports. Of the 695 unsuitable, 99 users (14.2%) presented an ap-peal to the provincial Appeal Commission; 41 of these appeals (41.4%) were accepted and the athlete was able to continue his competitive activity. CONCLUSIONS: The competitive sports medical examination implies the formulation by the sports medicine specialist of a certificate that can either be of fitness or unfitness for competitive sports activity (art. 5 and 6 of DM 18/02/1982); the sports doctor can, during the clinical -diagnostic process, avail themselves of consultations from experts of various branches to issue the final judgement, which, in case of unfitness, can be re-evaluated by a Regional Commission (Provincial for the autonomous provinces). The Appeal Commission constitutes a third tool of responsibility in the supervisory role it plays.
AB - BACKGROUND: The provincial Sports Medicine Service of the South Tyrolean Health Company is a complex operating unit that employs a team of doctors and nurses working with preventive and care objectives: approximately 26,000 annual services are provided each year in order to issue certificates of fitness for competitive sports, fitness for firefighter wearing self-contained breathing apparatus, fitness for civil defense workers, and assistance and control of disabled athletes. An analysis of the unsuitability for competitive sports shows that 79% relates to cardiological causes, 23% of which to ischemic heart disease (of which 9% to patients undergoing stenting or coronary artery bypass). METHODS: Approximately 208,000 medical records of services provided in the provincial service of Sports Medicine of the South Tyrolean Health Authority were analyzed, specifically at the Bolzano, Merano, Brunico and Bressanone sites, and from these the causes of unsuitability for competitive sports were extrapolated. RESULTS: In the period from 2014 to 2022, approximately 208,000 services were provided in the provincial sports medicine service of the South Tyrolean Health Authority, for which 695 (0.33%) users were made unsuitable for competitive sports. Of the 695 unsuitable, 99 users (14.2%) presented an ap-peal to the provincial Appeal Commission; 41 of these appeals (41.4%) were accepted and the athlete was able to continue his competitive activity. CONCLUSIONS: The competitive sports medical examination implies the formulation by the sports medicine specialist of a certificate that can either be of fitness or unfitness for competitive sports activity (art. 5 and 6 of DM 18/02/1982); the sports doctor can, during the clinical -diagnostic process, avail themselves of consultations from experts of various branches to issue the final judgement, which, in case of unfitness, can be re-evaluated by a Regional Commission (Provincial for the autonomous provinces). The Appeal Commission constitutes a third tool of responsibility in the supervisory role it plays.
KW - Eligibility determination
KW - Physical fitness
KW - Sports
UR - https://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=pmu_pure&SrcAuth=WosAPI&KeyUT=WOS:001229402100012&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=WOS_CPL
U2 - 10.23736/S0025-7826.23.04261-8
DO - 10.23736/S0025-7826.23.04261-8
M3 - Original Article
SN - 0025-7826
VL - 77
SP - 31
EP - 36
JO - Medicina Dello Sport
JF - Medicina Dello Sport
IS - 1
ER -