Factors Influencing Patient Presentation and Transfer to Hospital Rates During Mass-Gathering Stadium Events: A Scoping Review

Prehosp Disaster Med. 2025 Apr;40(2):101-113. doi: 10.1017/S1049023X25000287. Epub 2025 Apr 10.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: Mass-gathering events (MGEs) such as sporting competitions and music festivals that take place in stadiums and arenas pose challenges to health care delivery that can differ from other types of MGEs. This scoping review aimed to describe factors that influence patient presentations to in-event health services, ambulance services, and emergency departments (EDs) from stadium and arena MGEs.

METHOD: This scoping review followed the Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist and blended both Arksey and O’Malley methodology and the Joanna Briggs Institute’s (JBI’s) approach. Four databases (CINAHL, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus) were searched using keywords and terms about “mass gatherings,” “stadium” or “arena,” and “in-event health services.” In this review, the population pertains to the spectators who seek in-event health services, the concept was MGEs, and the context was stadiums and/or arenas.

RESULTS: Twenty-two articles were included in the review, most of which focused on sporting events (n = 18; 81.8%) and music concerts (n = 3; 13.6%). The reported patient presentation rate (PPR) ranged between one and 24 per 10,000 spectators; the median PPR was 3.8 per 10,000. The transfer to hospital rate (TTHR) varied from zero to four per 10,000 spectators, and the median TTHR was 0.35 per 10,000. Key factors reported for PPR and TTHR include event, venue, and health support characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS: There is a complexity of health care delivery amid MGEs, stressing the need for uniform measurement and continued research to enhance predictive accuracy and advance health care services in these contexts. This review extends the current MGE domains (biomedical, psychosocial, and environmental) to encompass specific stadium/arena event characteristics that may have an impact on PPR and TTHR.

PMID:40207555 | PMC:PMC12018010 | DOI:10.1017/S1049023X25000287