The prevalence of chronic ankle instability in collegiate athletes: an assessment of the International Ankle Consortium Diagnostic Criteria

BACKGROUND: Over the past two decades, inconsistent diagnostic criteria have been used to identify individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI), resulting in a wide range of prevalence (approximately 23-58%) among high school and university athletes. To improve consistency, the International Ankle Consortium established standard minimum diagnostic criteria for CAI in 2014. However, there is a lack of studies that have analyzed the prevalence of CAI under the current criteria. Hence, this study investigated the present prevalence of CAI and compared it with the results of previous reports. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among one-hundred collegiate athletes. Participants who met the International Ankle Consortium criteria were diagnosed with CAI. The one-sample proportion test was used to compare the present prevalence of CAI with the results of previous reports. RESULTS: Among one-hundred collegiate athletes, nine participants (9% of all participants) were diagnosed with CAI (95% CI ranged from 3.29% to 14.7%). The present prevalence of CAI was significantly lower than the results of previous reports (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present study confirm that using the new criteria leads to a significant difference in the prevalence of CAI diagnoses. To improve the generalizability of future CAI research, the standard minimum diagnostic criteria from the International Ankle Consortium should be used to recruit participants.