Risk factors for musculoskeletal injuries in the military: a qualitative systematic review of the literature from the past two decades and a new prioritizing injury model

Sammito, Stefan; Hadzic, Vedran; Karakolis, Thomas; Kelly, Karen R.; Proctor, Susan P.; Stepens, Ainars; White, Graham; Zimmermann, Wes O.

doi:10.1186/s40779-021-00357-w

Military Medical Research

Table 5 Summary of studies that focused on BMI (in general), obesity, being overweight, and being underweight as risk factors for MskIs

From: Risk factors for musculoskeletal injuries in the military: a qualitative systematic review of the literature from the past two decades and a new prioritizing injury model

Study	Publication year	Country	Branches	Unit/training	Study type	n	Risk factor^*
BMI (in general)
Allsopp [159]	2003	UK	Navy	Recruits	R	1287 M, 354 F	Yes
Beck [140]	2000	USA	Marines		P	624 M, 693 F	Yes (M), no (F)
Bedno [35]	2019	USA	Army	Recruits BCT	R	238,772	Yes (M), no (F)
Billings [160]	2004	USA	Air Force	Recruits BCT	R	2006	Yes
Blacker [161]	2008	UK	Army	Recruits	R	11,937 M, 1480 F	Yes
Burgi [126]	2011	USA	Navy	Recruits	P	2300 F	No (F)
Cosio-Lima [54]	2013	USA	Army	Sergeants Major Academy	R	149	No
Davey [76]	2015	UK	Marines		P	1090 M	No (M)
Garnock [113]	2018	Australia	Navy	Recruits	P	95 M, 39 F	No
George [114]	2012	USA	Army	Combat medics	P	1230	Yes
Havenetidis [162]	2017	Greece	Army	Officer recruits	P	268 M	No (M)
Havenetidis [143]	2011	Greece	n/a	Recruits	P	253	No
Jones [34]	2017	USA	Army	Recruits BCT	R	143,398 M, 41,727 F	Yes
Knapik [145]	2006	USA	Army	Recruits BCT	P	1174 M, 898 F	No
Knapik [82]	2013	USA	Army	Army military police training	P	1838 M, 553 F	Yes
Knapik [146]	2007	USA	Army	Mechanics	R	518 M, 43 F	Yes (M)
Knapik [84]	2007	USA	Army	Band	R	159 M, 46 F	No
Knapik [85]	2001	USA	Army	Recruits	P	182 M, 168 F	No
Knapik [86]	2008	USA	Army	Paratrooper training	R	1677	No
Knapik [87]	2008	USA	Army	Recruits BCT	P	2147 M, 920 F	No
Knapik [88]	2009	USA	Marines	Recruits BCT	P	840 M, 571 F	No
Kodesh [163]	2015	Israel	n/a	Combat Fitness Instructor Course	P	158 F	No
Korvala [89]	2010	Finland	n/a	Conscripts	P	192	Yes
Kupferer [164]	2014	USA	Air Force	Trainees	R	141	No
Lauder [90]	2000	USA	Army	Active duty	P	230 F	Yes (F)
Mahieu [148]	2006	Belgium	n/a	Recruits Royal Military Academy	P	69 M	No
Mattila [38]	2007	Finland	Army	Conscripts	P	149,750 M, 2345 F	No
Moran [149]	2013	Israel	Army	Recruits	P	44	No
Moran [63]	2012	Israel	Army	Elite combat unit BCT	P	74	No (M)
Moran [125]	2008	Israel	Army	Recruits	P	227 F	Yes (F)
Munnoch [91]	2007	UK	Marines		P	1115 M	No (M)
Nunns [150]	2016	UK	Marines	Recruits	P	160 M	Yes (M)
Nye [151]	2016	USA	Air Force	Recruits BCT	R	67,525	No
Parr [153]	2015	USA	Army	Special Operations Forces	P	106	No
Pihlajamäki [93]	2019	Finland	n/a	Full duty	R	4029 M	No (M)
Psaila [94]	2017	Malta	n/a	Recruits BCT	P	114 M, 13 F	No
Rabin [154]	2014	Israel	Army	Recruits	P	70 M	No (M)
Rappole [95]	2017	USA	Army	Army Brigade	R	1099	Yes
Reynolds [98]	2000	USA	Marines	Winter mountain training	P	356	No
Rice [120]	2017	UK	Marines	Recruits	P	147 M	Yes (M, especially lower BMI)
Roos [99]	2015	Switzerland	Army	Recruits	P	651 M	No (M)
Ruohola [100]	2006	Finland	n/a	Recruits	P	756 M	No (M)
Scott [122]	2015	USA	Army	Reserve Officer Training	R	165 M, 30 F	No
Shaffer [109]	2006	USA	Marines	Recruits BCT	R	2962 F	No (F)
Sharma [102]	2019	UK	Army	Infantry recruits	P	562 M	No (M)
Sharma [103]	2011	UK	Army	Infantry recruits	P	468 M	No (M)
Sillanpää [51]	2008	Finland	n/a	Conscripts	R	128,508 M	No (M)
Sormaala [39]	2006	Finland	n/a	Recruits	R	118,149	No
Waterman [165]	2010	USA	Military Academy		R	10,511 person years	Yes (M), no (F)
Wilkinson [60]	2009	UK	Army	Infantry	P	660	No
Wunderlin [107]	2015	Switzerland	Army	Recruits	P	230 M	Yes (M)
Wyss [68]	2014	Switzerland	Army	Recruits BCT	P	1676	NO
Obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²)
Anderson [70]	2015	USA	Army	Light Infantry Brigade	R	2101	Yes
AMSA [43]	2000	USA	Army	Active duty	R	387,536	Yes
Bedno [72]	2013	USA	Army	IET	P	8456 M	Yes (M)
Billings [160]	2004	USA	Air Force	Recruits BCT	R	2006	Yes
Canham-Chervak [52]	2006	USA	Army	Recruits	P	1156 M, 746 F	Yes
Cowan [74]	2012	USA	Army	Trainees	P	1568 F	No (F)
Cowan [75]	2011	USA	Army	Recruits	P	7323	Yes
Gundlach [166]	2012	Germany	Army	Active duty	P	410	Yes
Henderson [144]	2000	USA	Army	Combat medic	P	439 M, 287 F	Yes
Hruby [48]	2016	USA	Army		R	736,608	Yes
Jones [34]	2017	USA	Army	Recruits BCT	R	143,398 M, 41,727 F	Yes
Kuikka [36]	2013	Finland	Army	Conscripts	R	128,584	Yes
Ma [147]	2016	China	n/a		R	2479	Yes
Packnett [41]	2011	USA	Army	Recruits BCT	R	217,468 M, 47,813 F	Yes
Rappole [95]	2017	USA	Army	Army Brigade	R	1099	Yes
Taanila [123]	2010	Finland	n/a	Conscripts	P	944 M	Yes (M)
Taanila [59]	2012	Finland	Army	Conscripts	P	982 M	Yes (M)
Overweight (BMI ≥ 25 and < 30 kg/m²)
Anderson [70]	2015	USA	Army	Light Infantry Brigade	R	2101	Yes
Bedno [72]	2013	USA	Army	IET	P	8456 M	No (M)
Billings [160]	2004	USA	Air Force	Recruits BCT	R	2006	Yes
Canham-Chervak [52]	2006	USA	Army	Recruits BCT	P	1156 M, 746 F	Yes
Cowan [74]	2012	USA	Army	Trainees	P	1568 F	No (F)
Grier [78]	2017	USA	Army	Infantry Brigade	R	4236 M	Yes (M)
Gundlach [166]	2012	Germany	Army	Active duty	P	410	Yes
Henderson [144]	2000	USA	Army	Combat medic	P	439 M, 287 F	Yes
Hruby [48]	2016	USA	Army		R	736,608	Yes
Knapik [47]	2012	USA	Army	Recruits BCT	R	475,745 M, 107,906 F	Yes (M), no (F)
Kuikka [36]	2013	Finland	Army	Conscripts	R	128,584	No
Ma [147]	2016	China	n/a		R	2479	Yes
Mattila [37]	2007	Finland	n/a	Conscripts	R	133,943 M, 2044 F	Yes
Rappole [95]	2017	USA	Army	Army Brigade	R	1099 M	Yes (M)
Taanila [123]	2010	Finland	n/a	Conscripts	P	944 M	Yes (M)
Taanila [59]	2012	Finland	Army	Conscripts	P	982 M	No (M)
Underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m²)
AMSA [43]	2000	USA	Army	Active duty	R	387,536	Yes
Bedno [72]	2013	USA	Army	IET	P	8456 M	Yes (M)
Billings [160]	2004	USA	Air Force	Recruits BCT	R	2006	Yes
Cowan [74]	2012	USA	Army	Trainees	P	1568 F	No (F)
Finestone [167]	2008	Israel	Army	Light Infantry training	P	36 M, 99 F	Yes
Grier [78]	2017	USA	Army	Infantry brigade	R	4236 M	Yes (M)
Hruby [48]	2016	USA	Army		R	736,608	Yes
Jones [34]	2017	USA	Army	Recruits BCT	R	143,398 M, 41,727 F	Yes
Knapik [47]	2012	USA	Army	Recruits BCT	R	475,745 M, 107,906 F	Yes
Kuikka [36]	2013	Finland	Army	Conscripts	R	128,584	No
Packnett [41]	2011	USA	Army	Recruits BCT	R	217,468 M, 47,813 F	Yes
Reynolds [96]	2009	USA	Army	Infantry	P	181	Yes
Taanila [104]	2015	Finland	Army	Conscripts	P	1411 M	Yes (M)
Taanila [59]	2012	Finland	Army	Conscripts	P	982 M	No (M)
Wang [106]	2003	China	n/a	Military Police Forces Training	R	805 M	Yes (M)

BMI body mass index; BCT basis combat training; IET initial entry training; n/a not available; R Retrospective study; P prospective study; M male; F female; (M) risk factor only for males; (F) risk factor only for females
*Risk factor for musculoskeletal injuries (MSkI)

Back to article page

ISSN: 2054-9369

Contact us

Submission enquiries: Access here and click Contact Us
General enquiries: info@biomedcentral.com