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Original Articles

Quality of return to work in patients with mild traumatic brain injury: a prospective investigation of associations among post-concussion symptoms, neuropsychological functions, working status and stability

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Pages 1674-1682 | Received 21 Sep 2016, Accepted 16 May 2017, Published online: 05 Sep 2017
 

ABSTRACT

Primary objective: Although ‘return to work’ (RTW) has been always emphasized for patients with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), methodological drawbacks weakened its representativeness. This study thus aims to evaluate the ‘work quality’ (WQ) which originated from ‘working status’ and ‘working stability’ simultaneously, and to further explore the associations among post-concussion symptoms (PCS), neuropsychological functions and WQ. Methods and procedures: A total of 179 participants, which included 132 patients with MTBI and 47 healthy participants, were prospectively recruited. The work quality index (WQI) was developed to evaluate WQ. All patients were evaluated for their PCS, neuropsychological functions and WQ at two weeks post-injury (T1), while PCS and WQ were recorded by one month post-injury (T2). Results: More than half of the patients were not able to retain their pre-injury jobs at T1, while 26% of the patients still failed to regain previous works at T2. Interestingly, WQ was significantly associated with educational levels and physical PCS, such as headache and dizziness. Conclusions: Simultaneously considering working status and stability to reveal the quality of RTW is merited. A higher educational level might be a protective factor for successful RTW, and ameliorating physical symptoms is also necessary to get favourable WQ by one month after MTBI.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. This study is supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 104-2410-H-182-005-MY2).

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