The health-related quality of life of pediatric traffic victims.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of young traffic victims and to identify those children who are at high risk of a reduced HRQoL.


METHODS
Retrospective analysis of data obtained from a registration system and from questionnaires completed by 211 parents of young traffic victims who attended the department of traumatology in 1996 and 1997.


RESULTS
The overall group of young traffic victims experienced a lower HRQoL sumscore compared with the reference population (p = 0.001). A total of 48 parents (23%) attributed their child's reduced HRQoL specifically to the traffic accident. The socioeconomic status (SES) of the father (p = 0.018) and the Injury Severity Score (p < 0.001) emerged as significant predictors of traffic-related HRQoL.


CONCLUSIONS
Children of low SES parents and severely injured children are at particularly high risk of a reduced HRQoL following a traffic accident. However, not solely severely injured and hospitalized young traffic victims may suffer a diminished HRQoL but traffic-related injuries of minor or moderate severity may cause substantial problems as well.
Sturms
Leontien M
LM
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University Hospital Groningen, The Netherlands. l.m.sturms@rev.azg.nl
van der Sluis
Corry K
CK
Groothoff
Johan W
JW
Eisma
Willem H
WH
den Duis
Henk Jan
HJ
D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012923:Social Class