The Association of Compensation on Longer Term Health Status for People with Musculoskeletal Injuries Following Road Traffic Crashes: Emergency Department Inception Cohort Study

This article reports on a study undertaken to compare the health status of people claiming compensation for injuries sustained in road traffic crashes (RTC), with people who do not claim compensation. The prospective cohort study took place in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia which has a fault-based common law compensation scheme. The study featured patients presenting to the emergency department with mild to moderate musculoskeletal injury following RTC. Main outcome measures were the Physical Component Score (PCS) and Mental Component Score (MCS) of the Short Form 36 (SF-36) health status measure, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Functional Rating Index (FRI). These measures are recorded immediately post crash, at 6 and 12 months post crash. There were 95 people participating in the study; they were enrolled a mean of 8.6 (median 8) days following the crash. 86% were followed up to 12 months after injury. Mean age was 37 years, 61% were female and 91% were employed at the time of their injury. 33% ultimately claimed compensation, and 25% engaged a lawyer. There were no major differences in baseline personal characteristics or injury related factors between the groups. As expected, involvement as a passenger and in multiple vehicle crashes, were more frequent in the group claiming compensation. Over the duration of the study, claiming compensation was associated with lower SF-36 PCS, greater HADS-Anxiety, and worse FRI. There was a highly significant improvement in health status between baseline and 6 months after injury, but no further significant change between 6 and 12 months after injury. There was no difference in rate of improvement between the groups. The results showed that claiming compensation and psychological factors were independent predictors of worse health status at 12 months.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00201383
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier
• Authors:
  • Littleton, S M
  • Cameron, I D
  • Poustie, S J
  • Hughes, D C
  • Robinson, B J
  • Neeman, T
  • Smith, P N
• Publication Date: 2010-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 7p
• Serial:
  • Injury
  • Volume: 41
  • Issue Number: 7
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0020-1383
  • EISSN: 1879-0267
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00201383

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Anxiety; Automobile insurance; Crash injuries; Demographics; Injury severity; Legal factors; Musculoskeletal system; Psychological aspects; Traffic crashes
• Uncontrolled Terms: Health status
• Geographic Terms: Australia
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I84: Personal Injuries;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01351542
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 14 2011 11:11AM