Introduction: Breast-related issues include exercise-induced breast pain (EIBP), mastalgia, and frictional injuries to the skin underlying brassieres. They are perceived to affect athletic performance negatively but can be alleviated or relieved by high support, correctly fitted sports bras. Research has not investigated the prevalence and severity of breast-related issues and their perceived effect on performance in elite female cricket players. However, a high percentage of elite female cricket players have been found to wear sports bras that are ill-fitting and that provide insufficient breast support. Aim: To investigate the prevalence and severity of breast-related issues and their perceived effect on performance in elite female cricket players. A secondary aim was to investigate the perceived knowledge of coaches and athletes in managing breast-related issues. Methods: 89 elite female cricket players and 18 female coaching staff from 31 countries attending the Fairbreak Invitational 2022 International Cricket Competition completed anonymous online surveys. The mean age of the athletes was 29.5 ± 5.3 years, mode bra size 12B, range 8A-12G; International Cricket (ICC) rankings: full member countries n=37 (41.6%) and associate member countries n=52 (58.4%). The surveys collected cross-sectional, retrospective data on the prevalence and severity of breast-related issues, their perceived effect on performance, and the perceived knowledge of coaches and athletes to manage breast-related issues. Frequency and percentages were tabulated and calculated. Mann-Whitney U-tests and Chi-Squared Tests investigated the differences in athlete characteristics between athletes who did and did not report breast-related issues. Based on athlete characteristics, binomial regressions predicted the probability of EIBP, mastalgia, and frictional skin injuries (p < 0.05). Results: The prevalence and severity of breast-related issues were: EIBP 45% (n=38), VAS 2.2 (95%CI 1.6-2.7), mastalgia 69% (n=44), VAS 3.1 (95%CI 2.6-3.6), and frictional injuries 52% (n=59), VAS 2.7 (95%CI 2.1-3.2). 66.1% of respondents ranked their breast-related issues as mild, 28.2% moderate, and 5.8% severe. 52% of athletes perceived their breast-related issues negatively affected their performance. The probability of experiencing breast-related issues did not vary with age, breast size, training duration, playing experience, or ICC rankings (p>0.05). 62% of athletes and 83% of coaches perceived they had insufficient knowledge to manage breast-related issues. Discussion: Breast-related issues are a common occurrence in women`s cricket worldwide. While the severity for most is mild, the widespread global prevalence, perceived impact on performance, and lack of knowledge to effectively manage these issues necessitate global intervention. Breast health education in women`s cricket has the potential for a massive impact for little cost because most issues are alleviated or relieved by supportive, correctly fitted sports bras that can also optimize breast health and performance. In contrast to previous research, we attributed the lack of difference in prevalence and severity data with breast size to the relatively small model bra size of the elite female cricket players. Impact/Application to the field: • Breast-related issues are commonly experienced by female cricket players worldwide and are perceived to affect performance negatively. International women`s cricket can be a vehicle to deliver breast health education to benefit women worldwide. Declaration: My co-authors and I acknowledge that we have no conflict of interest of relevance to the submission of this abstract.
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