Recent injury and health-related quality of life in adolescent athletes.
BACKGROUND
Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a global concept that takes into account the physical, psychological, and social domains of health. Determining the extent to which injury affects HRQOL is an important aspect of rehabilitation practice, enabling comparisons of clinical outcomes across different conditions in diverse patient groups.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the extent to which a self-reported recent injury affected HRQOL in adolescent athletes using 2 generic patient self-report scales.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study.


METHODS
High school classrooms and athletic training facilities.


METHODS
A convenience sample of uninjured (n = 160) and injured (n = 45) adolescent athletes.


METHODS
THE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE WAS INJURY STATUS: uninjured versus injured. All participants completed a self-administered brief health status questionnaire and the Short Form-36 Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36) and Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument (PODCI) in a counterbalanced manner.


METHODS
Dependent variables included 8 subscale and 2 composite scores of the SF-36 and 5 subscale scores and 1 global score of the PODCI. Group differences were assessed with the Mann-Whitney U test (P < or = .05) and reported as median and interquartile range.


RESULTS
On the SF-36, the injured group demonstrated lower scores (P < .008) for physical functioning, limitations due to physical health problems, bodily pain, social functioning, and the physical composite. On the PODCI, the injured group reported lower scores (P < .01) on the pain and comfort subscale and the global score.


CONCLUSIONS
Adolescent athletes with self-reported injuries demonstrated lower HRQOL than their uninjured peers. As expected, recent injury affected physical functioning and pain. Social functioning (on the SF-36) and global HRQOL (on the PODCI) also decreased, suggesting that injuries affected areas beyond the expected physical component of health. Clinicians need to recognize the full spectrum of negative influences that injuries may have on HRQOL in adolescent athletes.
Valovich McLeod
Tamara C
TC
Athletic Training Program, Arizona School of Health Sciences, A. T. Still University, 5850 E. Still Circle, Mesa, AZ 85206, USA. tmcleod@atsu.edu
Bay
R Curtis
RC
Parsons
John T
JT
Sauers
Eric L
EL
Snyder
Alison R
AR
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D056352:Athletes / Q000523:psychology*; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors