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FACE GUARD PROTECTS 'BOYS AND GIRLS OF SUMMER'

INDIANAPOLIS- From major league stadiums to small-town sandlots, America's favorite pastime is a grand slam memory for many; but for some children those memories are tainted by preventable injuries, according to research conducted at the Indiana University School of Medicine with Prevent Blindness Indiana.

There are 5 million children who play in youth softball and baseball leagues every summer. Player reports indicate that 5 percent of those youth are hit in the face with a ball or bat each year.

"Baseball and softball are the primary causes of severe sports-related eye injury in Indiana and in most other states," said Ronald Danis, M.D., professor of ophthalmology at Indiana University School of Medicine and past president of the United States Eye Injury Registry.

Dr. Danis is the principal investigator for a study, whose findings on protected and unprotected youth league baseball team eye injuries was reported in the September issue of the journal Injury Prevention.

Dr. Danis sees these injuries as a serious and, in many cases, a preventable problem with an easy and inexpensive answer. For about $10 players can be equipped with a face guard on their batting helmets. It is estimated a face guard may prevent between 25 percent and 47 percent of potential facial injuries when a player is struck by a bat or ball.

During the summer of 1997, Dr. Danis and his colleagues surveyed 2,000 league players in Indiana between the ages of 5 and 14 years, their parents and nearly 300 coaches. The purpose of the survey was to determine effectiveness and acceptability of face guards in youth league play.

For the study, one group of youth league players in Indiana was supplied with several helmets and face guards; the second group used face guards on an individual preferential basis. According to the survey, 40 of the players on the teams not wearing face guards and 50 players on the teams outfitted with face guards reported at least one facial impact during the course of the season.

Acceptance of the face guards varied, primarily by team, but nearly four out of five players determined at the end of the season that the face guard was at least "okay" to wear. The majority of the parents favored the use of face guards and the number of coaches saying they thought the use of face guards should be mandatory increased significantly by the end of the season.

In 1995, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 162,100 hospital emergency room visits for baseball-related injuries to children between the ages of 5 and 14 years. Of those, 37 percent suffered facial injuries and 6,139 emergency room visits were due to baseball-related eye injuries.

Of the 9,000 cases documented in the U.S. Eye Injury Registry, 38 percent of all sports-related eye injuries are baseball or softball injuries and 40 percent of those injuries required surgery.

"Baseball injury to the eyes are of significant concern and are the injuries most likely to produce disability," Dr. Danis said. "This is a public health issue that needs to be taken seriously."

The study was supported by a grant from the Midwest Eye Foundation, Inc., Prevent Blindness Indiana, Inc., both of Indianapolis, and Research to Prevent Blindness, New York.

Quick Facts On Sports-Related Eye Injuries

• Five percent of serious eye injuries nationwide are baseball related (from the United States Eye Injury Registry).
• The most common cause of sports-related eye injuries is baseball related.
• For about the cost of a fast-food meal for two, a face guard can be purchased to prevent a significant proportion of baseball-related injuries.
• Batters are the single player position most at risk.
• 5 million youths play baseball each year in organized leagues.
• In 1995, there were 162,100 hospital emergency room visits for baseball-related injuries to children ages 5 to 14 years, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Thirty-seven percent of these ER visits were due to facial injuries.
• Of the reported injuries in 1995, 6,139 emergency room visits were due to baseball-related eye injuries.
• Of the 9,000 cases documented in the U.S. Eye Injury Registry, 38 percent of all sports-related eye injuries are baseball or softball injuries, 40 percent of which required surgery.
• The face guard may prevent between 25 percent and 47 percent of facial impacts from a bat or ball.

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