872 FO45 – Is illness prevention important in South African trail runners preparing for a trail race: a prospective study?

Abstract

<h3>Background</h3> Trail running occurs mainly in remote natural terrains. Runners often train and participate with an illness. A better understanding of illness in trail runners preparing for trail races is critical to prevent adverse events. <h3>Objectives</h3> To determine the epidemiology and associated illness risk factors among trail runners. <h3>Design</h3> Prospective cohort study. <h3>Setting</h3> South Africa, 20 November 2018 – 19 August 2019. <h3>Participants</h3> South African trail runners training towards a trail race of ≥21 km, recruited through trail running social media platforms. <h3>Assessment</h3> A modified Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire for Health Problems was used biweekly to prospectively collect running-related illness and training history data among 152 participants (males n=120, females n=32) over 30 weeks. <h3>Main outcome measurements</h3> Prevalence (n,%), incidence (per 1000 running-days; 95%CI), clinical characteristics (primary organ system), severity (time-loss), illness burden (IB) and associated risk factors. <h3>Results</h3> Seventy-nine (52%) participants sustained 157 illnesses. The overall illness rate was 7.2 illnesses/1000 running-days (95%CI 5.7–9.2). The mean prevalence of illnesses assessed every two weeks was 10.0%. Females had a higher mean prevalence (13.0%) than males (9.0%), with an illness incidence ratio of 1.47 (p&lt;0.05). The respiratory (41.4%), immune (22.93%) and digestive (15.9%) organ systems were mostly involved. Most illnesses (70.7%) caused 1–7days time-loss from training. The overall IB was 43.2 days lost/1000 trail running days, with no significant difference between age categories (p=0.9145) or gender (p=0.1489). No risk factors were statistically associated with illness. <h3>Conclusion</h3> One in every 2 trail runners suffered illness during training. Females presented with a higher prevalence and incidence. The respiratory system accounted for &gt;40% of all illnesses. During training, 95.5% of illnesses prevented runners from training for an estimated period of ≥1 day. These results are important to guide illness prevention during training for a trail race.