Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on injury risk in Qatar's professional football.

OBJECTIVES: To compare injury incidence, burden and characteristics between the pre- and post-COVID-19 lockdown periods in Qatari professional football. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. METHODS: Injury and exposure data for two post-COVID-19 lockdown periods [early post-lockdown period: short-term ~2 months (54 matches) and late post-lockdown period: long-term 8-months (183 matches)] were compared to the benchmark of the same periods from the three previous seasons (2017/18-2019/20). RESULTS: We observed no difference in overall, training or match incidence between early post-lockdown period and the benchmark reference. However, this short-term period resulted in lower burden for overall- (RR 0.80, P < 0.0001), training- (RR 0.73, P < 0.0001) and match-injuries (RR 0.40, P < 0.0001) compared to the benchmark. During late post-lockdown period match injury incidence (RR 0.72, P = 0.0010) and match injury burden (RR 0.69, P < 0.001) were lower than the benchmark. In contrast, both overall- (RR 1.30, P < 0.001) and training-injury burden (RR 1.65, P < 0.001) were higher. A significant increase in adductor strains in both post-lockdown periods was observed. CONCLUSIONS: Immediately after the COVID-19 lockdown (short-term effect), there was no difference in injury incidence but a lower injury burden compared to benchmark. Moreover, the rapid return to competition for the successive season (long-term effect) was associated with a higher overall- and training-injury burden, but a lower match-injury burden compared to the benchmark.

Organising football matches with spectators during the COVID-19 pandemic: What can we learn from the Amir Cup Football Final of Qatar 2020? A call for action.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a potential threat to professional sporting events when they eventually return to their usual calendar with spectators' capacity of football stadiums usually exceeding 40,000 seats for important events. Hence, a strategy for safe return to sporting events is needed in the COVID-19 pandemic to pave the way towards a new normalcy. We reviewed the guidelines and policies implemented in organising the Amir Cup Football Final of Qatar, which hosted about 20,000 fans. The authors evaluated the publicly available information on the official websites of the various organizations involved and highlight the importance and usefulness of the Covid-19 Rapid Antigen Assay-Kit as a tool for screening sports spectators as well as the importance of a rigorous spectator pathway, including their accurate traceability thanks to a specific mobile phone application. Despite the surging of COVID-19 all over the world, a big football event with around 20,000 spectators in the same stadium has been hosted under strongly controlled preventative measures. These preventative measures show that it is possible to organize a major football match held outdoors, with the presence of thousands of supporters. This article is a call for action for the organisers of such events where the supporters' health status is traceable to provide the scientific community with actual data of post-event infection rates. Therefore, it is suggested to consider using procedures like the ones described in the present article as a potential model in the process of organizing big sporting events with spectators in times of COVID-19.

Does lunar cycle affect biological parameters in young healthy men?

This study aimed to assess the effects of the lunar cycle on diurnal variation of biological, i.e, hormonal, biochemical, and hematological, profiles of diurnally active healthy men. Blood samples of 20 males were collected on four occasions [full moon (FM) and new moon (NM), in the morning (06:00-07:00 h) and evening (19:00-20:00 h)]. The results showed that melatonin and testosterone levels and neutrophils count were lower during the FM as compared to the NM in the morning (p < .001; d = 4.13, p < .001; d = 3.84, p < .01; d = 0.77, respectively) and evening (p < .001; d = 6.36, p < .001; d = 4.03, p < .05; d = 1.07, respectively) samples. However, cortisol level was higher during the FM compared to the NM, in the morning (p < .001; d = 0.74) and evening (p < .001; d = 3.54). Hemoglobinemia was higher only in the evening during the FM compared to the evening of the NM (p < .01; d = 1.22). In summary, this study confirmed that lunar cycle can affect human biological parameters independently of time of day.

The effects of lunar cycle on the diurnal variations of short-term maximal performance, mood state, and perceived exertion.

The aim of this study was to explore the effect of the lunar cycle and time of day on short-term maximal performance, wellness and mood state. Twenty healthy active men performed a running anaerobic sprint test (RAST) at four sessions (full moon (FM) and new moon (NM) in the morning and in the evening). Before each testing session, participants completed a rating scale of mood states (POMS) and a psychometric rating scale of perceived wellness (Hooper's questionnaire). Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was collected just after the RAST. A higher rating of sleep was observed in FM compared to NM upon the morning and the evening (FM morning vs. NM morning, p < .01; d = 1.38) and (FM evening vs. NM evening, p < .001; d = 2.62). POMS subscales data revealed no significant lunar cycle effect. Peak power (PP), average power (AP) and minimal power (MP) were greater in the evening following NM compared to FM (NM evening vs. FM evening, p< .01, <0.01, <0.05; d = 0.77, = 0.78, = 0.68, respectively). Likewise, RAST performance was greater in the evening compared to the morning for both lunar cycle phases (FM evening vs. FM morning, p< .001, <0.01, <0.01; d = 1.08, = 1, = 0.85) and (NM evening vs. NM morning, p< .001, <0.01, <0.01; d= 1.08, = 1, = 0.85), respectively, for PP, AP, and MP. RPE was higher in the FM evening compared to the NM evening and in the FM morning compared to the NM morning (p < .001, <0.001; d = 1.38, = 2.18, respectively). These results suggest that the lunar cycle and time of day might affect short-term maximal performance with better performance on NM evening associated with a greater perception of sleep quality compared to FM. Abbreviations: AP: Average power; FM: full moon; MP: Minimal power; NM: new moon; RAST: Running anaerobic sprint test; RPE: Rating of perceived exertion; POMS: Rating scale of mood states; PP: Peak power.