Prevalence and Predictors of Sub-Acute Phase Disability after Injury among Hospitalised and Non-Hospitalised Groups: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

INTRODUCTION: To reduce the burden on injury survivors and their supporters, factors associated with poor outcomes need to be identified so that timely post-injury interventions can be implemented. To date, few studies have investigated outcomes for both those who were hospitalised and those who were not. AIM: To describe the prevalence and to identify pre-injury and injury-related predictors of disability among hospitalised and non-hospitalised people, three months after injury. METHODS: Participants in the Prospective Outcomes of Injury Study were aged 18–64 years and on an injury entitlement claims register with New Zealand's no-fault injury compensation insurer, following referral by healthcare professionals. A wide range of pre-injury demographic, health and injury-related characteristics were collected at interview. Participants were categorised as ‘hospitalised’ if they were placed on New Zealand's National Minimum Data Set within seven days of the injury event. Injury severity scores (NISS) and 12 injury categories were derived from ICD-10 codes. WHODAS assessed disability. Multivariable analyses examined relationships between explanatory variables and disability. RESULTS: Of 2856 participants, 2752 (96%) had WHODAS scores available for multivariable analysis; 673 were hospitalised; 2079 were not. Disability was highly prevalent among hospitalised (53.6%) and non-hospitalised (39.4%) participants, three-months after injury. In both groups, pre-injury disability, obesity and higher injury severity were associated with increased odds of post-injury disability. A range of other factors were associated with disability in only one group: e.g. female, ≥2 chronic conditions and leg fracture among hospitalised; aged 35–54 years, trouble accessing healthcare, spine or lower extremity sprains/dislocations and assault among non-hospitalised. SIGNIFICANCE: Disability was highly prevalent among both groups yet, with a few exceptions, factors associated with disability were not common to both groups. Where possible, including a range of injured people in studies, hospitalised and not, will increase understanding of the burden of disability in the sub-acute phase.