Five-year outcome after mild head injury: a prospective controlled study

Abstract

Objectives – To study the prevalence of post‐concussion symptoms (PCS) 5–7 years after mild head injury (MHI) and to investigate whether patients suffer from more symptoms than the normal population. Methods – We conducted a 5‐ to 7‐year follow‐up of patients (n = 89) with MHI. Post‐concussion symptoms were quantified with the Rivermead Post Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) and health‐related quality of life (HRQL) was measured with the EuroQol‐5D (EQ‐5D). We also quantified subjective general health state with the EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale (EQ‐VAS). An age‐ and sex‐matched, but otherwise randomly chosen control group of 89 persons was recruited from the National Population Registry for a cross‐sectional comparison. Twenty‐eight patients (30%) and 27 (30%) controls responded. Results – Patients reported significantly (P = 0.017) more PCS (median RPQ score 10, 95% CI 2–20) than controls (median 2, 95% CI 0–4). They also reported significantly (P = 0.008) lower HRQL (median EQ‐5D score 0.866, 95% CI 0.796–1.000) than controls (1.000, 95% CI 1.000–1.000), but there was no difference between the groups in their subjective ratings of general health state. Conclusions – Patients reported significantly more PCS and lower HRQL 5 to 7 years after MHI than age‐ and sex‐matched controls from the normal population.