Long-term problems influencing health-related quality of life after road traffic injury - Differences between bicyclists and car occupants

The aim of this study was to describe and compare road traffic injuries leading to long-term problems in Health related quality of life (HRQoL), with regards to road user group, injury severity and injured body region, which is important when considering injury preventive strategies. From the Swedish Traffic Accident Data Acquisition (STRADA), a randomized sample of people injured in a road traffic crash and seeking emergency hospital care in connection to the crash between 1st of January 2007 and 31st of December 2009 was drawn (n=4761). HRQoL was investigated using a self-report survey, namely the EQ-5D. Among the responding persons injured in a bicycle crash (n=402) or car crash (n=557) the injury outcome of reporting or not reporting any problem in HRQoL was compared between bicyclists and car occupants depending on injured body region and injury severity. The results showed that 59% of car occupants and 44% of bicyclists reported problems in HRQoL after a road traffic injury. Pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression were the health-related dimensions where people most frequently reported problems. Leg injuries were most often associated with reporting problems in HRQoL, for both bicyclists and car occupants. Another finding was that car occupants consistently reported more problems in HRQoL compared to bicyclists, even when controlled for injury severity and injured body region.