Assessment of long-term functional outcome in patients who sustained moderate or major trauma: a 4-year prospective cohort study

The current trauma system aims to improve survival, quality of life, and functional outcome of patients.1 Patient-centred, health-related outcomes are increasingly recognised as a benchmark of the quality of care received,2 and quality of survival ranks as a high priority.3 Evaluation of functional recovery and quantification of the burden of nonfatal trauma allow comparison with other settings, help evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the trauma system as a whole, and may provide some prognostic information for healthcare workers and patients. Although there are studies of the health status of the normal population in Hong Kong,4,5 studies of post-trauma health status and function in Chinese with moderate or severe trauma are scarce. This study aimed to evaluate (1) the overall functional outcome of patients who sustained moderate or major trauma using the extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOSE), (2) quality of life using the Short-Form 36 (SF-36) health survey, and (3) the return to work (RTW) status.