Citation

Hawthorne G, Kaye AH, Gruen R. J. Neurotrauma 2009; 26(10): 1623-1633.

Affiliation

The University of Melbourne, Psychiatry, Level 1 North, Royal Melburne Hospital, Grattan Street, Parkville, Victoria, Australia, 3050, +61 3 8344 5467, N/A; graemeeh@unimelb.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/neu.2008-0735

PMID

19317590

Abstract

Background: Recent calls have been made for the inclusion of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in traumatic brain injury studies. This study reports the impact of TBI on traditional measures (general health, depression, social isolation, labourforce participation), self-assessed health function status using the SF-36 Version 2 (SF-36V2), and self-assessed health preference using two generic utility instruments, the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) and the SF6D. Method A random sample of TBI-cases (N=66) was drawn from a trauma registry and matched (gender, age, education and relationship status) with non-trauma-exposed cases from a population health survey. All participants were interviewed and the two cohorts compared. Results When compared with matched comparators, TBI-cases experienced worse general health, elevated probabilities of depression, social isolation and worse labourforce participation rates. The TBI-cohort reported worse health status on the SF-36 V2. The most affected areas were social function, role emotion and mental health (effect sizes -0.70 to -0.86). The reported utility-values indicative of a HRQoL between 13-24% worse than their non-TBI contemporaries (effect sizes -0.80 to -0.81). Discussion/conclusion The findings suggest that TBI has long-term consequences across all aspects of peoples' lives, and that these consequences can be self-assessed using generic instruments. The challenge is to provide and evaluate long-term services targeted at the life areas that those with TBI find particularly difficult.

Language: en