Researchers have found that sociodemographic factors are more predictive of worse outcomes than an injury’s level of severity.
US researchers followed 1,736 trauma patients over 30 months to determine the long-term functional, physical, and mental health consequences of trauma and the factors associated with them.
Their findings show that long-term sequelae of trauma exceed previous expectations and identified that patient sociodemographic factors (such as female gender and low education) were associated with worse recovery.
This suggests that social support systems are an essential component of recovery.
First author of the study Adil Haide said: “For more than two decades, trauma surgeons and patients have been hoping to change trauma care to be more responsive to long-term outcomes.
“This study shows that with just incremental effort we can fundamentally change how we assess trauma outcomes, enabling a paradigm shift that will benefit our patients and trauma systems.”
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