Grant: Project Grant

BACKGROUND: Each year in Canada, road trauma causes over 2,000 deaths and 10,000 serious injuries. Disability after an injury is a major public health concern, but the long term health outcome after road trauma is poorly investigated and based mostly on outdated research that does not reflect modern vehicle safety features or modern medical treatment, and largely ignored cyclists and pedestrians. In addition, there is almost no research that helps healthcare providers know which patients are most likely to have a bad outcome following a crash - making it difficult to provide them with the care they require. It is important for policy makers to know the healthcare costs and lost productivity that results from road trauma, but this information has not been well studied. Our study will provide this missing information. METHODS: We will interview patients who visit an emergency department after a car crash. The interview will ask about their general health before the crash, the injuries they had from the crash, and other details of the crash. We will interview them again at 2, 4, 6, and 12 months after the crash to find out about problems they had since the crash. The follow-up interview will ask about pain, ability to go about their usual activities, whether they have returned to work, and about the medical care they required after the crash. STUDY FINDINGS and IMPORTANCE: Our study will help doctors and nurses know how quickly people recover from their injuries and which patients are likely to have long term health problems after a car crash. We will also describe how much medical treatment these patients require and how much work they miss. This information will also help policy makers make informed decisions on how much money and resources to devote to crash prevention or to treatment programs for crash victims.