Examining Changes in Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction Surgery Patterns Among Professional Baseball Players.

Abstract

Objective: To retrospectively analyze publicly available elbow ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (UCLR) injury data for professional baseball players.

Design: Descriptive epidemiology study.

Setting: A retrospective analysis using an open-source database was performed. The database contained all known UCLR surgeries among Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) players.

Participants: In total, 1801 professional male professional baseball pitchers (age: 24.5 ± 3.9 years) who have undergone UCLR between 1974 and 2024.

Main outcome measures: The number of UCLR procedures each year.

Independent variables: Change-point analysis was used to identify changes in the number of UCLR surgeries over time among MLB and MiLB players. For MLB players, number of UCLR surgeries from 1974 to 2023 was analyzed, while for MiLB players, data starting from 1981 to 2024 were analyzed.

Results: For MLB players, 3 change points were identified, occurring around 1989 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1988-1990), 2000 (95% CI, 2000-2000), and 2012 (95% CI, 2011-2017). For MiLB players, 3 change points were identified occurring around 2001 (95% CI, 2001-2001), 2009 (95% CI, 2008-2010), and 2013 (95% CI, 2013-2015).

Conclusions: Overall, there has been a rise in the number of UCLR surgeries per year for the past 50 years in professional baseball, with distinct time points identified, representing increases in the number of UCLR surgeries each year. A higher number of UCLR surgeries are performed per year in the MiLB than in the MLB.