Health-related quality of life of adolescents and young adults 10 years after serious traumatic brain injury

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a population-based group of young adults with serious traumatic brain injury (TBI) acquired 10 years earlier. In the time period 1987--1991, all 165 residents (<18 years of age) in the south-western health care region of Sweden who had suffered a serious TBI were followed up. Of these, 109 (67%) participated in this follow-up study, which was conducted using the 15-dimension (15D) HRQoL instrument. Their HRQoL was compared with that of 1,039 individuals drawn randomly from the National Population Register for the Finnish Health Care Survey 1995/1996 and matched for age and sex. Nine (mobility, vision, hearing, eating, speech, mental status, depression, distress and usual activities) of the 15 dimensions were significantly aberrant in the TBI group. This TBI group differed markedly from children with organ transplantation, as the transplantation children did not differ from a control group in terms of HRQoL. Compared with other groups of children with congenital or long-lasting conditions, the TBI group had more medical and mental problems.