Sleeping Beauty? A Prospective Study on the Prevalence of Sleep Problems and Their Potential Determinants in Professional Dancers.

Background: Sleep is important for health and performance but has rarely been studied in professional dancers. The aim was to analyse the prevalence of sleep problems in professional dancers and their potential determinants at the beginning of and during the season.

Methods: Professional dancers of six German companies answered a comprehensive baseline questionnaire on physical and mental health, including the Sleep Difficulty Score of the Athletic Sleep Screening questionnaire (ASSQ-SDS) in the beginning of the season and weekly health reports during the season.

Self-reported Health Problems of Professional Dancers from Five German Opera Houses or State Theatres: A Prospective Study with Weekly Follow-ups during One Season.

Background: Most studies on injuries of professional dancers used a medical-attention and/or time-loss definition and did not analyse all health problems. Further, almost all studies included just one company. The aim was to analyse all self-reported health problems of professional ballet and contemporary dancers during one season and compare sexes and five companies in Germany.

Association of self-reported health problems and interpersonal violence in sport: a cross-sectional study in world-level performing athletes.

Objectives: A paucity of studies assesses the intersection of physical health (injury and illness), mental health and experiences of interpersonal violence (IV, also known as harassment and abuse) in sport. The objectives of this study were to examine the (a) frequency of self-reported physical and mental health problems of elite athletes in the 12 months prior to the survey, (b) differences in physical and mental health between male and female athletes and (c) relationship of athlete health with experiences of IV.

Methods: Elite adult athletes from four sports were approached at eight international events to answer an online questionnaire on their physical and mental health, as well as experiences of IV in sport within the past 12 months.

Prevalence of Mental Health Problems and their Potential Association with Sleep Disturbance, Coping Skills and Social Support in Professional Ballet Dancers.

While several studies have analyzed the characteristics and burden of injuries and physical complaints in (pre-)professional dancers, mental health problems, other than eating disorders, have rarely been studied in professional ballet dancers. The aims were to (a) investigate the prevalence of self-reported mental health problems, and (b) analyze their potential associations with sleep disturbance, coping skills and social support in professional ballet dancers. During a pre-season health screening, professional ballet dancers of three companies were asked to answer questions on personal characteristics, current need and attempt to lose weight, chronic/recurrent mental health problems, and need of support from a psychotherapist as well as established questionnaires on depression (PHQ-9), generalized anxiety (GAD-7), eating disorders (EDE-QS), sleep disturbance (ASSQ), athletic coping skills (ACSI-28) and perceived social support (F-SozU-K6).

Bone stress injuries in athletics (track and field) championships: findings from a prospective injury surveillance conducted across 24 international championships with 29,147 registered athletes.

Background: Athletics (track and field) athletes are prone to develop bone stress injuries (BSIs) but epidemiological data on BSIs from top-level sports events are scarce.

Objective: To describe the incidence and characteristics of BSIs during 24 international athletics championships held from 2007 to 2023.

Methods: BSI-related data were prospectively collected during 24 international athletics championships, including the Olympic Games (n = 3), World Outdoor Championships (n = 4), European Outdoor Championships (n = 6), World Indoor Championships (n = 3) and European Indoor Championships (n = 8).

Clusters of mammalian conserved RNA structures in UTRs associate with RBP binding sites.

RNA secondary structures play essential roles in the formation of the tertiary structure and function of a transcript. Recent genome-wide studies highlight significant potential for RNA structures in the mammalian genome. However, a major challenge is assigning functional roles to these structured RNAs.

A prospective study of injuries and illnesses among 910 amateur golfers during one season.

Objectives: Our aims were (a) to describe the prevalence and incidence of self-reported injuries and illnesses of amateur golfers over a 5-month period and (b) to investigate potential risk factors for injury.

Methods: We recruited 910 amateur golfers (733 males [81%] and 177 females [19%]) from golf clubs in the USA and Switzerland. The median age was 60 (IQR: 47-67) and the median golfing handicap was 12 (IQR: 6-18).

Health Problems of Professional Ballet Dancers: an Analysis of 1627 Weekly Self-Reports on Injuries, Illnesses and Mental Health Problems During One Season.

Background: Several studies have investigated injuries of (pre-)professional ballet dancers, however most used a medical-attention and/or time-loss definition and did not analyse the prevalence of all health problems. The aim was to analyse the frequency and characteristics of all self-reported physical and mental health complaints (i.e.

Heading during the season and its potential impact on brain structure and neurocognitive performance in high-level male football players: An observational study.

Objectives: To investigate potential effects of heading on the neurocognitive performance and the white matter (WM) of the brain in high-level adult male football players.

Design: Prospective longitudinal.

Methods: Football players engaging in the highest football leagues in Germany were included.

How do sports injury epidemiological outcomes vary depending on athletes' response rates to a weekly online questionnaire? An analysis of 39-week follow-up from 391 athletics (track and field) athletes.

Objective: To explore how sports injury epidemiological outcomes (i.e., prevalence, average prevalence, incidence, burden, and time to first injury) vary depending on the response rates to a weekly online self-reported questionnaire for athletes.

Risk factors for injury complaints leading to restricted participation in Athletics (Track and Field): a secondary analysis of data from 320 athletes over one season.

Objective: To investigate if several potential risk factors were associated with time to injury complaints leading to participation restriction in Athletics (ICPR).

Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of data collected during 39 weeks of the 2017-2018 Athletics season in a cluster-randomised controlled trial ('PREVATHLE'). Univariate and multivariable analyses using Cox regression models were performed to analyse the association between the time to first ICPR and potential risk factors collected (1) at baseline: sex, age, height, body mass, discipline, the usual duration of Athletics training and non-specific sports training, ICPR in the preceding season (yes/no), ICPR at baseline (yes/no); (2) weekly during the season: duration and intensity of Athletics training and competition, and non-specific sports training, fitness subjective state, sleep duration and illness (yes/no); and (3) combined.

Behind the Curtain: Prevalence of Symptoms of Depression, Generalised Anxiety and Eating Disorders in 147 Professional Dancers from Six Opera Houses or State Theatres.

Background: Mental health problems cover a wide spectrum. Depression and anxiety disorders are the most frequent mental health problem in the general population and in elite athletes. The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence of symptoms of depression, generalised anxiety disorder and eating disorders in professional dancers, to compare the results between genders and to the general population and to analyse potential determinants.

Inequities in the Training Environment and Health of Female Golfers Participating in the 2022 International Golf Federation World Amateur Team Championships.

Objective: To assess health problems and training environment of female golfers participating in the 2022 World Amateur Team Championships (WATC) and to compare golfers (a) with and without health problems prior the WATC and (b) living and training in countries ranking in the upper versus lower 50% of the team results at the 2022 WATC.

Design: Cross-sectional cohort study using an anonymous questionnaire.

Setting: International Golf Federation WATC.

Surveillance of athlete mental health symptoms and disorders: a supplement to the International Olympic Committee's consensus statement on injury and illness surveillance.

In 2019, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) published a consensus statement outlining the principles for recording and reporting injury and illness in elite sport. The authors encouraged sport federations to adapt the framework to their sport-specific context. Since this publication, several sports have published extensions to the IOC consensus statement.

Boarding versus day-students: A mixed-methods analysis of sleep and its relationship with psychological distress.

Background: Boarding students face unique challenges when entering school, including: adapting to a novel environment, where they are separated from family, friends and culture, for up to 40 weeks per year. A particular challenge is sleep. A further challenge is coping with the demands of boarding with its potential impact on psychological well-being.

Female athlete health domains: a supplement to the International Olympic Committee consensus statement on methods for recording and reporting epidemiological data on injury and illness in sport.

The IOC made recommendations for recording and reporting epidemiological data on injuries and illness in sports in 2020, but with little, if any, focus on female athletes. Therefore, the aims of this supplement to the IOC consensus statement are to (i) propose a taxonomy for categorisation of female athlete health problems across the lifespan; (ii) make recommendations for data capture to inform consistent recording and reporting of symptoms, injuries, illnesses and other health outcomes in sports injury epidemiology and (iii) make recommendations for specifications when applying the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology-Sport Injury and Illness Surveillance (STROBE-SIIS) to female athlete health data.In May 2021, five researchers and clinicians with expertise in sports medicine, epidemiology and female athlete health convened to form a consensus working group, which identified key themes.

Prevalence of symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety disorder in field hockey players of German first and lower leagues.

Background: While several studies on mental health of elite athletes were published in recent years, few compared the prevalence with the general population and none included field hockey players.

Aims: To analyze the prevalence of symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety disorder in field hockey players of different skill levels and to compare it to the general population.

Methods: Male and female hockey players from different leagues were asked to answer questions on player characteristics, the Centre of Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7).

Cortical thickness and neurocognitive performance in former high-level female soccer and non-contact sport athletes.

Background: Long-term effects of playing soccer (football) on the brain structure and function of the brain are vividly debated. While some studies showed differences in neurocognitive performance and structural brain changes in retired male players, data on female players are scarce. The present study compares cortical thickness and neurocognitive performance in former high-level female soccer (SOC) and non-contact sport athletes (CON).

Injuries and Illnesses During the 53rd FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2021 in Oberstdorf: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Objective: For the 3 Nordic ski disciplines of cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, and ski jumping, data on injuries and illnesses during major sporting events only exist from the Winter Olympics of 2010 to 2018. So far, an investigation has not been conducted during the Nordic World Ski Championships.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Having an injury complaint during the four weeks before an international athletics ('track and field') championship more than doubles the risk of sustaining an injury during the respective championship: a cohort study on 1095 athletes during 7 international championships.

Objectives: To analyse the association between pre-participation health status and in-championships injuries in a large dataset from seven international athletics championships, and to determine the health status of athletes during the four weeks before the start of international athletics championships.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Methods: We used data collected from athletes of national teams with medical staff who participated i) in a pre-participation health survey (retrospective data collection) and ii) in an in-championships injury surveillance (prospective data collection) during seven international athletics championships (2013-2018).

Diseases 2.0: a weekly updated database of disease-gene associations from text mining and data integration.

The scientific knowledge about which genes are involved in which diseases grows rapidly, which makes it difficult to keep up with new publications and genetics datasets. The DISEASES database aims to provide a comprehensive overview by systematically integrating and assigning confidence scores to evidence for disease-gene associations from curated databases, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and automatic text mining of the biomedical literature. Here, we present a major update to this resource, which greatly increases the number of associations from all these sources.