755 FO66 – One in four olympic athletes report a health problem any given week – a prospective injury and illness surveillance study in Swedish olympic athletes

Background Long-term prospective health surveillance provides the backbone to inform and evaluate preventive interventions in sports. Research on year-round injury and illness occurrence in Olympic level athletes is scarce. Objective To study the prevalence and incidence of injury and illness in Swedish Olympic athletes. Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Olympic athletes. Participants Male and female athletes within the Swedish Olympic Committee support programme 'Top and Talent' are included. Data from April 2022 to June 2023 were analysed. 167 athletes (49% women) participated in the health surveillance with weekly self-report (using an App, Athlete Monitoring) of sport exposures and health problems. Assessment of Risk Factors Injury and illness rates stratified by sex and sport. Main outcome measurements Health problems were athlete-reported using the OSTRC Questionnaire on Health Problems (OSTRC-H2), and diagnosed by the athletes' supporting health staff (physicians, physiotherapists). Injury and illness rates are reported as a weekly prevalence (proportion of athletes who report a new or ongoing health problem any given week) and as an annual incidence (number of new health problems per athlete per year). Results 652 new health problems were reported (91 acute injuries, 113 gradual onset injuries, 448 illnesses) with an incidence of 5.3 health problems per athlete/year (1.7 injury, 3.6 illness). The average weekly prevalence of health problems was 26%. Injury prevalence was similar for men (16.7%; 95% CI 15.3–18.2) and women (14.6%; 13.4–16.0), and predominantly affected the knee (14%), ankle (9%) and lower back (9%). Illness was more prevalent in women (13.1%; 95% CI 11.9–14.4) than men (8.2%; 7.3–9.3). Respiratory (76%) and gastrointestinal problems (8%) were most common. Injury prevalence was highest among power sport athletes (23%), and illness among endurance athletes (15%). Conclusions Swedish Olympic athletes report on average 5 health problems per year, with one in four athletes affected any given week.