Citation

MacKenzie EJ, McCarthy ML, Ditunno JF, Forrester-Staz C, Gruen GS, Marion DW, Schwab WC. J. Trauma 2002; 52(3): 527-534.

Affiliation

Center for Injury Research and Policy, The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. emackenz@jhsph.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

11901330

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) for examining outcomes after multiple trauma and to investigate whether the addition of items selected to measure cognitive function could improve the sensitivity of the SF-36 for identifying differences in outcomes for patients with and without head injury. METHODS: One thousand two hundred thirty patients discharged from 12 trauma centers were interviewed 1 year after injury. The interview included the SF-36 supplemented with four items chosen to assess cognitive function. RESULTS: The resulting cognitive function scale is internally consistent and measures a component of health that is independent of the dimensions incorporated in the SF-36. It correlates well with established measures of brain injury severity and discriminates among patients with and without brain injury. CONCLUSION: This study underscores the need to supplement the SF-36 with a measure of cognitive function when evaluating outcome from multiple trauma involving head injury. Further studies are needed to validate the specific items chosen for measuring cognitive function.

Language: en