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Abstract
Objective: This study sought to identify potential differing clinical characteristics between patients with a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) who attended a planned follow-up session and not. This study investigated whether clinical characteristics and attendance for a planned follow-up service 2-months after injury could be related to return-to-work (RTW) 1-year later.
Method: Prospective cohort study of 343 patients with MTBI admitted consecutively to the Department of Neurosurgery in 2009–2011. Demographic and clinical data were obtained from the hospital files and data about sick leave from The Norwegian Labour and Welfare Service. Patients were categorized into two groups according to their attendance.
Results: One hundred and sixty-one (67%) patients attended (AG) and 80 (33%) did not (NAG) attend their follow-up appointments. The AG had significantly more frequently intracranial pathology on CT scan, had consumed less alcohol and were older. Logistic regression showed that follow-up attendance (OR = 16.89) and sick leave before injury (OR = 9.70) are unfavourably related to RTW at 12-months. Skull fracture and cause of injury had no influence of the outcome.
Conclusion: Not attending the follow-up has a favourable outcome after MBTI, indicating that these patients have a reduced need for medical and rehabilitation support for their brain injury.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank all of the patients who took time to participate in the study, Karen Marie Haga for her assistance in providing the names of all new MTBI patients and Anne Lerfald Grostad for her assistance in data coding. We are grateful for the support of MD Matthias Hütler and his staff members from the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Haukeland University Hospital. The authors are also grateful for the assistance in data collection provided by Unn H. Høydahl, Statistics Norway and her staff.