Article
Impact of Age and Sex on Health-Related Quality of Life after Major Trauma: Results of a Prospective Multi-center Registry-based Cohort Study
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Published: | October 26, 2021 |
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Objectives: Major trauma is the main cause of severe disability and mortality. The impact of baseline characteristics like age and sex is still controversial. We present a prospective multi-center study on the impact of age and sex on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after major trauma.
Methods: This multi-center prospective registry-based observational study investigates the evolution of HRQoL after major trauma. In addition to the data set of the trauma registry of the German Trauma Society (DGU), the global HRQoL was measured at 6, 12, and 24 months post-trauma using the EQ-5D-3L questionnaire.
Results and Conclusion: We identified 416 patients (116 women/300 men) meeting the inclusion criteria of an ISS>16 (median ISS 22). All patients had an impairment of HRQoL after trauma compared to age-adjusted norm values. Even though the groups of women and men were comparable regarding injury severity, female patients reported significantly more anxiety and depression than male patients did after trauma. The most improvement showed patients between 16-39 years of age, especially female patients. Women over 65 years of age showed a limited HRQoL and remained significantly lower over time than their male counterparts (Figure 1 [Fig. 1]).
We found a limited HRQoL in all groups after major trauma. The group of patients under 39 years of age showed the most improvement, women in particular. Women over 65 years of age showed no improvement in HRQoL. Female patients reported significantly more anxiety and depression after major trauma than male patients.