About 20 million Americans are now playing pickleball, drawn to the sport as a fun, accessible way for people across age groups to get in some low-impact exercise.
Not so fun? When your doubles partner accidentally whacks you in the face with a paddle, or that pickleball traveling at 40 mph hits a player in the eye. The racket sport, invented in 1965 as a hybrid of lawn tennis and table tennis, has surged in popularity—and so have injuries, costing between $250–$500 million to treat in 2023 alone.
A study published today in JAMA Ophthalmology finds that pickleball-related eye injuries have increased at an alarming rate over the past four years as the sport continues to grow in popularity. Eye protection is not currently mandated for casual or professional play. Establishing standardized guidelines for eye protection is recommended to reduce the risk of ocular injuries among players.
Here are the key takeaways that ophthalmologists and other physicians need to know, as reported in the JAMA Ophthalmology study, “Pickleball-Related Ocular Injuries Among Patients Presenting to Emergency Departments.”
Question: What are the incidence rates and demographic factors associated with pickleball-related ocular injuries over the past 20 years in the United States?
Findings: In this cross-sectional study using the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database between 2005 and 2024, the incidence of pickleball-related ocular injuries increased by an estimated 405 injuries per year from 2021 to 2024.
Meaning: These findings suggest that pickleball-related ocular injuries have increased markedly over the past four years in conjunction with the sport’s growing popularity, supporting the need to develop standardized guidelines for eye protection.
The researchers estimated that 2024 saw more than 1,200 eye injuries related to pickleball, with the mechanism of injury being “hit with ball” 43% of the time, a fall 28% of the time, and 12% of injuries due to being hit with the paddle. Periocular laceration and corneal abrasions were the two top injuries—35% and 16% of all reported injuries, respectively—but more serious injuries also were reported. These included orbital fracture (2% of eye injuries), retinal detachment (3%) and globe trauma (3%).
A JAMA Ophthalmology invited commentary published with the study lends perspective on the findings.
“These data may inform changes in consumer protection recommendations. Currently, to our knowledge, there is no mandate or guidance for eye protection from USA Pickleball, the governing body for pickleball in the U.S,” says the commentary.
“Pickleball should consider the recommendations from the American Academy of Ophthalmology and develop evidence-based guidance on protective eyewear to reduce the risk of injury,” the authors of the commentary wrote. “In addition, educational programs and campaigns to promote eye-safety measures should be considered. These types of programs have shown success in other sports, including squash, another racquet and ball sport, where players exposed to protective eyewear promotion and education were 2.4 times more likely to wear it than those not exposed.”
AMA members can explore a range of peer-reviewed research and clinical information published by the JAMA Network™, which brings JAMA® together with JAMA Network Open and 11 specialty journals. Published continuously since 1883, JAMA is one of the most widely circulated, peer-reviewed, general medical journals in the world. If you are an AMA member or interested in becoming one, learn how to access these educational materials and innovative tools.
Also new this week in the JAMA Network
“AI, Health, and Health Care Today and Tomorrow—The JAMA Summit Report on Artificial Intelligence,” published in JAMA. Artificial intelligence carries promise and uncertainty for clinicians, patients, and health systems. This JAMA Summit Report presents expert perspectives on the opportunities, risks and challenges of AI in health care, including how AI is developed, evaluated, regulated and implemented across clinical and business domains.
This content is the result of JAMA Summit on AI that was held in October 2024. Reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of JAMA Summit, this report features a diverse group of 51 authors whose expertise spans clinical care, biomedical research, software engineering, data science, health policy, law, and industry innovation.
JAMA Summit is an initiative of JAMA and the JAMA Network that convenes leaders from across sectors and around the world to discuss and debate critical issues in medicine, health and health care.
This week marks one year since the launch of JAMA+ AI, the JAMA Network home for the latest advances in the application of AI in medicine—from clinical practice to research.
Dive deeper:
- Editorial, “Introducing the JAMA Summit”
- Editor’s note, “Artificial Intelligence Across the JAMA Network: A Call for Submissions”
- Video, “What the Experts Think About Where AI Is Headed”
- Podcast, “AI, Health, and Healthcare”
- Podcast, “What Will Next Year Bring for AI in Health?”
- Sign up for the JAMA+ AI email newsletter
- Subscribe to the “JAMA+ AI Conversations” podcast
- Trying to build your AI knowledge? Explore JAMA+ AI Resources
“Social Media Use Trajectories and Cognitive Performance in Adolescents,” published in JAMA. This analysis found that both low and high increases in social media use throughout early adolescence were significantly associated with lower performance in specific aspects of cognitive function, supporting a prior finding that greater screen time was negatively but weakly associated with adolescent cognitive performance. Also read this related editorial, “Developmental Costs of Youth Social Media Require Policy Action.”
“First-Trimester mRNA COVID-19 Vaccination and Risk of Major Congenital Anomalies,” published in JAMA Network Open. In this cohort study of pregnancies exposed to messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccines in the first trimester, exposure was not associated with an increased risk of any major congenital malformations, overall, by organ group, or by individual major congenital malformation, supporting the safety of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in early pregnancy.
“Glucose-Lowering Medication Classes and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes,” published in JAMA Network Open. In this study, major adverse cardiovascular event risk varied significantly by medication class, with most protection achieved with sustained treatment with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) followed by sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2is), sulfonylureas and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors.
The magnitude of benefit of GLP-1RAs over SGLT2is depended on baseline age, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, heart failure and kidney impairment. These results, along with consideration of cost, availability and collateral clinical benefits, may inform treatment decisions for adults with type 2 diabetes.
“Liraglutide vs Semaglutide vs Dulaglutide in Veterans With Type 2 Diabetes,” published in JAMA Network Open. In this comparative effectiveness study in veterans with diabetes, liraglutide, semaglutide, and dulaglutide initiators had similar risks for kidney and cardiovascular outcomes. Head-to-head randomized trials are needed to confirm these findings. Also read this invited commentary, “Incretin Mimetics and Cardiovascular Events—The Evolving Comparative Effectiveness Landscape.”
What AMA members get with JAMA Network
The subscription cost of JAMA is included with your AMA membership, plus unlimited digital access to all JAMA Network journals, including: JAMA, JAMA Network Open, JAMA Cardiology, JAMA Dermatology, JAMA Internal Medicine, JAMA Neurology, JAMA Oncology, JAMA Ophthalmology, JAMA Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, JAMA Pediatrics, JAMA Psychiatry, and JAMA Surgery.
The online journals include many helpful features for students, residents and fellows, including full-text PDFs, clinical challenges, archived editions, audio and video author interviews where authors give their perspectives on a study’s objectives, findings and implications.
There are several ways physicians can leverage resources from the JAMA Network to help them in their clinical practice:
- Take CME courses and earn AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.
- Fulfill maintenance of licensure (MOL) and CME requirements on JN Learning™, the home for all JAMA Network CME.
- Read concise summaries of clinical guidelines and recommendations in a streamlined format designed for today’s busy physicians.
- Access one-page articles that present key facts about various conditions in patient-friendly terms to support you and your patients.
