Research Paper Title

The incidence of military training-related injuries in Chinese new recruits: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background

Training-related injuries are the main reason for disability, long-term rehabilitation, functional impairment and premature discharge from military service. The aim of this study was to identify the incidence of injuries in the training of Chinese new recruits via a systematic review of the literature.

Methods

A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the combined incidence of military training-related injuries in Chinese new recruits. The electronic databases of full-text journals were searched, and the Loney criteria were used to assess the quality of eligible articles. Summary estimates were obtained using random-effects models. Subgroup analyses and publication bias tests were performed.

Results

Fifty-five eligible articles representing 109,611 Chinese new recruits met the inclusion criteria, of which 21,253 recruits were clinically diagnosed with military training-related injuries. The combined incidence of military training-related injuries in Chinese new recruits was found to be 21.04%.

Conclusions

An increased incidence of training injuries was found in more recent years, underscoring the need for further research on the risk factors associated with their causation.

Reference

Hua, W., Chen, Q., Wan, M., Lu, J. & Xiong, L. (2017) The incidence of military training-related injuries in Chinese new recruits: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps. pii: jramc-2016-000710. doi: 10.1136/jramc-2016-000710. [Epub ahead of print].