title: Women and injuries--factors influencing recovery.
abstract: This study focuses on female patients of working age, hospitalized due to moderate, mostly orthopaedic injuries. The aim was to highlight the medical and non-medical factors affecting outcome. Two groups of women, those who 12 months after the injury reported disability within at least three out of five possible areas (work, family, household, social life and leisure-time; n = 34), were compared with women reporting disability within two areas or less (n = 59). Four factors were predictive of outcome according to the multivariate analysis: injury severity as measured by the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS), self-perceived injury-related mental and physical health measured by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) during hospitalization and a history of three or more previous injuries requiring medical care. Sociodemographic background factors did not affect the outcome. By integrating information from AIS and VAS with the number of previous injuries, three quarters of the women were correctly classified; i.e., it was possible to detect a majority of those reporting a poorer outcome one year after the injury already during hospitalization. Simple screening instruments like these seem to be useful in the early detection of vulnerable patients. This study further suggests that more attention should be paid to non-medical factors, the importance of which may have been underestimated regarding a poorer outcome among female patients hospitalized due to injuries. Thus, psychosocial support should not only be offered to patients with major trauma or an obvious psychiatric disorder, but to all injured patients and should be considered as an integral part of medical care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Stockholm Söder Hospital, Sweden, sari.ponzer@ortoped.sos.sll.se
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ponzer
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bergman
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Brismar
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Johansson
mesh_terms: D015998:Abbreviated Injury Scale; D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003289:Convalescence; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D016387:Women's Health; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000534:rehabilitation*