Recovery after musculoskeletal trauma in men and women

Alasdair George Sutherland, David Alan Alexander, James Douglas Hutchison

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background. Recent work has suggested that women are more at risk of impaired outcome after traumatic injuries. This would suggest that resources should be targeted at female trauma patients to optimize their outcomes. We wished to explore the physical and psychological outcomes of women treated in our trauma unit.
Methods: The Grampian Trauma Outcomes Study recruited patients aged 16 to 70 years with musculoskeletal injuries. Patients with significant head injuries, alcohol intoxication, or, low-energy osteoporotic fractures were excluded. Of 227 patients approached, 200 were recruited to the study. Patients were asked to complete physical and psychosocial (Short Form-36 and Musculoskeletal Function Assessment) and psychological (General Health Questionnaire) outcomes measures at initial assessment and at 2- and 6-month follow-up.
Results: Of the 200 patients, 79 % completed 2-month follow-up and 75% completed 6-month follow-up. There were no significant differences in the outcomes scores between male and female patients at either of the follow-up points.
Conclusions:. From our study, women do not appear to have impaired recovery after trauma as compared with men. Larger scale studies are required to assess the need to target specific resources toward the treatment of female trauma victims.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)213-216
Number of pages4
JournalThe Journal of Trauma Injury, Infection, and Critical Care
Volume59
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2005

Keywords

  • musculoskeletal trauma
  • recovery
  • female trauma patients
  • function assessment instrument
  • health survey SF-36
  • major trauma
  • gender differences
  • injury severity
  • validity
  • outcomes
  • questionnaire
  • mechanism
  • version

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