Une estimation des décès traumatiques liés à la pratique sportive en France métropolitaine,en 2010

Introduction

Physical exercise presents numerous health benefits but it can also lead to accidents, of varying degrees of severity, some of which can result in death. The purpose of this study was to estimate, for the year 2010 in metropolitan France, the number of injury-related deaths linked to sporting practices.

Method

The study consisted in counting the injury-related deaths that occurred in 2010 in metropolitan France following a sporting practice, regardless of the context (professional, leisure or travel). Deaths linked to cycling, deaths in airplanes and deaths by drowning were not considered as sporting practices and so were not included in the study. The figures were collected from documentation compiled by government institutions or available in on-line media and the websites of associations and government organizations involved with sport.

Results

In 2010, 246 people died as a result of a sporting activity in metropolitan France. Mountain sports were the most dangerous (99 deaths), followed by water sports (50), hunting (27), aviation sports (23, of which 22 in ultralight/microlight aircraft), mechanical sports (23) and free flight sports (20, of which 10 were linked to paragliding and five to hang gliding). Seven times more men died than women. The most dangerous periods were summer and winter.

Discussion

Our study missed some cases, which led to an overly low figure for certain sports (horse riding and fishing, etc.), and missed those people who did not die immediately following their accident. This simple study, which remains to be completed, has provided an initial estimate of the number of injury-related deaths linked to sporting activities in metropolitan France.