Health-related quality-of-life after traumatic brain injury: a 2-year follow-up study in Wuhan, China.

OBJECTIVE

To assess health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) 2 years after traumatic brain injury (TBI) among a group of Chinese.

METHODS

A total of 358 adult patients with moderate-to-severe TBI based on Glasgow Coma Scale score were recruited in a large trauma centre in Wuhan, China during May 2005 to April 2008. They were followed up for 2 years and the Medical Outcome Short Form 36 was used to measure HRQoL.

RESULTS

After a 2-year follow-up, there were 312 (87.2%) survivors. All domains of HRQoL had the lowest scores at discharge, greatly improved over the first 6 months and showed continued improvement. Patients with TBI still had significantly lower scores in every domain than the reference group 2 years after discharge. Female patients had lower MCS scores than the males (OR = 1.8, 95% CI: 1.1-2.9). Patients older than 30 had lower scores in PCS (OR = 1.7, 95% CI: 1.1-2.6). Patients with severe TBI had lower scores in both PCS (OR = 1.9, 95% CI: 1.2-3.1) and MCS (OR = 1.6, 95% CI: 1.0-2.6) compared with those with moderate TBI.

CONCLUSIONS

HRQoL of a group of Chinese patients with TBI improved during 2 years after discharge. Age, sex and severity of TBI were significantly associated with physical or mental HRQoL after discharge.