National Rates Of Protective Eye Goggle Use In Girls’ High School Varsity Field Hockey

PURPOSE: Despite evidence indicating eye goggles (EG) reduce the risk of ocular trauma, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) removed its national mandate regarding the use of EG for girls’ high school varsity field hockey. The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of voluntary EG use after the mandate was lifted, as well as school characteristics associated with EG. METHODS: The total number of athletes and those using EG (excluding goalies) were recorded once for each field hockey team represented in a national game film database (NFHS Network) for the 2021 season. Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, which mandate EG at the state level, were excluded. Teams were categorized by school type (Public or Private), state of field hockey game development (Established or Emerging), and Region (Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South, Midwest, and West). RESULTS: 643 teams representing 12,060 athletes were evaluated, with only 310 athletes (2.57%) observed as wearing EG. There were 11 teams where all athletes were observed wearing EG (1.71% of 643 teams). Athletes from these 11 teams accounted for 63.9% of total EG use. We assumed that these teams were under a local mandate; excluding these teams resulted in a voluntary EG use rate of 0.92% (109 of 11,852athletes). EG use was lower among public (0.84% of 10,271 athletes) compared to private (1.45% of1,581 athletes) school teams (Chi2 = 20.44, p = 0.018). We also observed a lower proportion of EG use in Established regions (Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, 0.69% of 8,961 athletes) versus Emerging regions (South, Midwest and West, 1.63% of 2,891 athletes, Chi2 = 5.60, p < 0.001). This difference was driven by relatively higher EG use rates in the West (2.86% of 1502 athletes) compared to the Northeast (0.82%of 2069 athletes), Mid-Atlantic (0.65% of 6892 athletes), South (0.37% of 537 athletes), and Midwest (0.23% of 852 athletes). CONCLUSIONS: This study establishes a baseline level of voluntary EG use to evaluate the response to the rescinding of the national EG mandate. EG use after the national mandate was lifted is exceedingly low. Differences between regions suggest more established lacrosse traditions may contribute to reluctancy to use EG. A large opportunity for ocular injury prevention exists via education or local or state mandates for EG.