title: Outcome after minor traffic accidents: a follow-up study of orthopedic patients in an inner-city area emergency room.
abstract: This follow-up study of consecutive traffic accident victims aimed to characterize the variation in recuperation time, to estimate the incidence of delayed recovery, and to identify predictors of nonrecovery 1 and 6 months after the accident. This study included 318 of 811 consecutive patients. Whiplash type neck injuries (48%) were the most common, followed by other minor injuries (38%). Self-perceived recovery was reported by 31% and 56% of the patients at 1 and 6 months, respectively. With control for mutual confounding variables in a multivariate model, injury severity, working status, and education were associated, respectively, with 4.5-fold, 3.2-fold and 2.3-fold gradients in odds of recovery not reported at 1 month. At 6 months, only working status (odds ratio [OR], 3.2) and education (OR, 2.3) were associated with the risk of reporting nonrecovery. The authors concluded that social factors are important predictors of outcome 1 and 6 months after minor traffic accidents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Karolinska Institutet at Stockholm Söder Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. carin.ottosson@sos.sll.se
authors.forename: Carin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ottosson
authors.forename: Olof
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Nyrén
authors.forename: Sven-Erik
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: Sari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ponzer
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004522:Educational Status; D004638:Emergency Treatment / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards; D004651:Employment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009985:Orthopedics / Q000592:standards; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014911:Whiplash Injuries / Q000628:therapy; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*