The scientific literature on injuries and illnesses in cycling is currently marked by studies with heterogeneous methodology, many of which involve small numbers of participants or have a short period of data collection. Also, for many cycling disciplines, no epidemiological information is available. This is concerning, as such information is the cornerstone of the development of measures protecting athletes’ health. This extension of the IOC consensus statement will improve the consistency, accuracy and quality of injury and illness surveillance programmes across all UCI cycling disciplines.
In 2020, the IOC released a consensus statement that provides overall guidelines for the recording and reporting epidemiological data on injury and illness in sport. Some aspects of this statement need to be further specified on a sport-by-sport basis. Hence, we extended the IOC consensus statement to meet the sport-specific requirements of all cycling disciplines regulated by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).
A panel of 20 experts, all with experience in cycling or cycling medicine, participated in drafting this cycling-specific extension of the IOC consensus statement. In preparation, panel members were sent the IOC consensus statement, the first draft of this manuscript and a list of topics to be discussed. The expert panel met in July 2020 for a 1-day video conference to discuss the manuscript and specific topics. The final manuscript was developed in an iterative process involving all panel members.
This paper extends the IOC consensus statement to provide cycling-specific recommendations on health problem definitions, mode of onset, injury mechanisms and circumstances, diagnosis classifications, exposure, study population characteristics and data collection methods. Recommendations apply to all UCI cycling disciplines for both non-disabled cyclists and para-cyclists. The recommendations presented in this consensus statement will improve the consistency and accuracy of future epidemiological studies of injury and illness in cycling.
The full paper can be found here (paid access)
Clarsen B, Pluim BM, Moreno-Pérez V, et al. Methods for epidemiological studies in competitive cycling: an extension of the IOC consensus statement on methods for recording and reporting of epidemiological data on injury and illness in sport 2020. British Journal of Sports Medicine Published Online First: 12 May 2021. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2020-103906