Infective illnesses, particularly respiratory and gastrointestinal, are common among elite rugby players during tournaments, and delayed reporting of symptoms is frequent.
BACKGROUND: Illness accounts for a significant proportion of consultations with a team physician travelling with elite athletes. OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence, type, cause and consequences of illness in Rugby Union players participating in a 16-week tournament. SETTING: 8 teams participating in the 2010 Super 14 Rugby tournament Participants A cohort of 259 elite rugby players from eight teams was recruited. ASSESSMENT: All players were followed daily over the 16-week competition period (22 676 player days). Each day, team physicians completed an illness log with 100% compliance. Information included the daily squad size and illness details including system affected, final diagnosis, type and onset of symptoms, training/match days lost and suspected cause. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENT: Incidence of illness (illness per 1000 player days). RESULTS: The incidence of illness in the cohort was 20.7/1000 player days (95% CI 18.5 to 23.1) with the highest incidence of illness in the respiratory system (6.4: 95% CI 5.5 to 7.3), gastrointestinal system (5.6: 95% CI 4.9 to 6.6) and the skin and subcutaneous tissue (4.6; 95% CI 4.0 to 5.4). Infections accounted for 54.5% of all illness and 26.1% of illness resulted in time loss of ≥1 day. In over 50% of illnesses, symptoms were present for ≥1 day before being reported to the team physician. CONCLUSION: Infective illness involving the respiratory tract and gastrointestinal tract together with dermatological illness was common in elite rugby players participating in this international tournament. A delay in reporting of symptoms >24 h could have important clinical implications in player medical care.
Schwellnus et al. (2012) studied this question.
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