Long-term outcomes of seriously injured children: a study using the Child Health Questionnaire.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children 1-2 years after they had sustained an injury.


METHODS
Parents of all children who were identified by the Queensland Trauma Registry during their admission to either of the two paediatric specialty hospitals in Brisbane, Australia, for the treatment of an injury, were invited to participate in this study. Parents who consented to participation received a copy of the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) that required them to provide information regarding their child's HRQoL following injury. The CHQ scores for the study respondents were compared with those of the Australian norms. This study was approved by the relevant ethics committees.


RESULTS
Two hundred and forty-one completed questionnaires were returned. The majority of cases were male (65%) and there was even representation across all age groups. The majority of injuries were considered to be minor (81%) and were predominantly the result of falls and cycling accidents causing mainly fractures and intracranial injury. On the majority of subscales of the CHQ, study participants recorded scores that were statistically significantly below those of the Australian norms. None of the relevant variables collected by the Queensland Trauma Registry were found to predict scores on the CHQ in this study (for those children hospitalized for > 24 h).


CONCLUSIONS
Injured children are worse off than their Australian counterparts in terms of HRQoL even up to 2 years following an injury. Further research needs to be undertaken to identify factors that predict lower HRQoL in order to reduce the burden of injury on children and their families.
Davey
Tamzyn M
TM
Centre of National Research on Disability and Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Queensland, Mayne Medical School, Queensland, Australia.
Aitken
Leanne M
LM
Kassulke
Desley
D
Bellamy
Nicholas
N
Ambrose
Jane
J
Gee
Travis
T
Clark
Michele
M
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D011793:Queensland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology