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AI-DRAFTED — PHYSICIAN REVIEW IN PROGRESSThe citation for this entry was checked against Crossref and PubMed, but its summary and interpretation were drafted by an AI model from the published abstract and have not yet been individually read by a physician. Read the linked source before relying on this operationally.
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On-site medical interventions for spectators at venues during major international sporting tournaments: a prospective comparative study of four single-sport and multi-sport tournaments[1]

Lipska E, Mikrut M, Pawlak A · 2026 · Front Public Health

Summary

Prospective comparison of daily on-site medical data from four major tournaments — UEFA EURO 2012 and EHF EURO 2016 (single-sport) vs The World Games 2017 and European Games 2023 (multi-sport): 2,188,497 spectators, 1,539 patient presentations, 135 hospital transports. Spectator PPR was higher at single-sport tournaments (5.71 vs 3.97 per 10,000) while transport rates were similar (0.42 vs 0.48); fewer than 10% of on-site presentations required transport. Single-sport events concentrate demand per event; multi-sport events distribute it across venues. Framed as evidence for scalable staffing models.

So what

The first prospective head-to-head of tournament FORMATS: format changes the shape of demand (concentrated vs distributed) more than its severity (transport rates identical). Planning translation for the FIFA 2026/LA28 cycle: single-sport mega events need deep per-venue capacity; multi-sport events need breadth and logistics across many thinner posts — same total medicine, different geometry. The <10% transport fraction reconfirms the treat-on-site economics across 2.2M European spectators.

Key findings

  • 2.19M spectators, 4 tournaments: PPR 5.71 (single-sport) vs 3.97 (multi-sport) per 10,000
  • Transport rates equivalent (0.42 vs 0.48 per 10,000) - format shifts volume, not severity
  • <10% of on-site presentations needed hospital transport
  • Single-sport = concentrated per-venue demand; multi-sport = distributed demand
  • Prospective, multi-event - rare design quality for this literature

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