Health related quality of life following road trauma: An emergency department inception cohort study

Each year in Canada, road trauma causes over 2,000 deaths and 10,000 serious injuries. Disability after an injury is a major public health concern, but the long term health outcome after road trauma is poorly investigated and based mostly on older research that does not reflect modern vehicle safety features or modern medical treatment. In addition, there is almost no research that helps health care providers know which patients are most likely to have a bad outcome following a crash, making it difficult to provide them with the care they require. For policy makers, it is important to know the health care costs and lost productivity that results from road trauma, but this information has not been studied. My study will provide this missing information.

My team will interview patients who visit an emergency department after a traffic crash, including pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists. We will ask about their general health before the crash, the injuries they had from the crash, and other details of the crash. Repeat interviews at 2, 4, 6, and 12 months will ask about problems they had since the crash, including pain, ability to go about their usual activities, and return to work. We will also ask about the medical care they required after the crash.

This study will help doctors and nurses know how quickly people recover from their injuries after a crash and which patients are likely to have long term health problems. It will also describe the medical treatment that these patients require and how much work they miss. This information will give a better estimate of the true cost of road trauma, and may help policy makers decide how much funding to devote to crash prevention programs or to treatment programs for crash victims.