Illness during the 2010 Super 14 Rugby Union tournament - A prospective study involving 22 676 player days

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. Assessmen: 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.