| Controls | ACL | p Value† | ACL subgroups, based on mechanism of injury | p Value‡ | |||
| Direct | Indirect | Non-contact | |||||
| Age, years* | 37.7 (10.0) (n = 125)§¶ | 29.0 (11.2) (n = 114) | <0.001 | 26.3 (12.3) (15)§ | 32.8 (12.3) (n = 18) | 28.0 (10.9) (n = 50)¶ | <0.001 |
| Height, cm* | 177.4 (9.6) (n = 126) | 176.7 (9.8) (n = 104) | 0.578 | 175.4 (8.2) (14) | 180.9 (8.9) (n = 17) | 177.0 (9.5) (n = 49) | 0.418 |
| Weight, kg* | 76.2 (13.1) ( (n = 130)** | 79.4 (17.3) (n = 104) | 0.094†† | 81.4 (12.5) (14) | 87.9 (15.9) (n = 17)** | 79.9 (17.9) (n = 49) | 0.008†† |
| BMI, kg/cm2* | 24.1 (3.3) (n = 126) | 25.1 (3.7) (n = 100) | 0.018†† | 26.2 (2.7) (14) | 25.9 (2.8) (n = 16) | 25.3 (4.4) (n = 47) | 0.014†† |
| Males, % | 74.6 (n = 130) | 69.0 (n = 116) | 0.325 | 93.3 (n = 15) | 88.9 (n = 18) | 66.0 (n = 50) | ND |
| South African, % | 71.1 (n = 128) | 85.1 (n = 107) | 0.012 | 92.9 (n = 14) | 83.3 (n = 18) | 84.0 (n = 50) | ND |
ACL, anterior cruciate ligament; ND, not determined due to small sample sizes.
*Age, weight and BMI are self-reported values at the time of the first ACL rupture for the ACL group and the three subgroups and at recruitment for the control group. For the ACL group the age, weight and BMI at recruitment were 5.1 (8.7) years (n = 114), 1.3 (4.4) kg (n = 103) and 0.4 (1.5) kg/cm2 greater than at the time of the first ACL rupture.
†Controls vs ACL.
‡Controls vs direct contact vs indirect contact vs non-contact.
Pairwise, post hoc significant differences: §controls vs direct contact (p<0.001); ¶controls vs non-contact (p<0.001); **controls vs indirect contact (p = 0.010).
††Adjusted for age.
Data are mean (SD) (n) for most values except gender and country of birth, which are frequency (n).