Disability weights based on patient-reported data from a multinational injury cohort.
OBJECTIVE
To create patient-based disability weights for individual injury diagnosis codes and nature-of-injury classifications, for use, as an alternative to panel-based weights, in studies on the burden of disease.


METHODS
Self-reported data based on the EQ-5D standardized measure of health status were collected from 29 770 participants in the Injury-VIBES injury cohort study, which covered Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. The data were combined to calculate new disability weights for each common injury classification and for each type of diagnosis covered by the 10th revision of theInternational statistical classification of diseases and related health problems. Weights were calculated separately for hospital admissions and presentations confined to emergency departments.


RESULTS
There were 29 770 injury cases with at least one EQ-5D score. The mean age of the participants providing data was 51 years. Most participants were male and almost a third had road traffic injuries. The new disability weights were higher for admitted cases than for cases confined to emergency departments and higher than the corresponding weights used by the Global Burden of Disease 2013 study. Long-term disability was common in most categories of injuries.


CONCLUSIONS
Injury is often a chronic disorder and burden of disease estimates should reflect this. Application of the new weights to burden studies would substantially increase estimates of disability-adjusted life-years and provide a more accurate reflection of the impact of injuries on peoples' lives.
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, The Alfred Centre, Commercial Road, Melbourne, Victoria, 3004, Australia .
Belinda J
BJ
Gabbe
Farr Institute, Swansea University Medical School, Swansea, Wales .
Ronan A
RA
Lyons
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, The Alfred Centre, Commercial Road, Melbourne, Victoria, 3004, Australia .
Pamela M
PM
Simpson
The Harbourview Injury Prevention and Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, United States of America .
Frederick P
FP
Rivara
Section of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand .
Shanthi
S
Ameratunga
Department of Public Health, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, Netherlands .
Suzanne
S
Polinder
Injury Prevention Research Unit, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand .
Sarah
S
Derrett
Research Centre for Injury Studies, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia .
James E
JE
Harrison
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D017281:Cost of Illness; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification