Patients’ demographic and injury characteristics
| Characteristics | All patients* 2075 | Mild TBI (GCS 13–15)† 1609 | Moderate and severe TBI (GCS 3–12)† 466 | |
| P value‡ | ||||
| Demographics | ||||
| Age median (IQR) | 51 (32–64) | 53 (35–66) | 41 (26–55) | <0.001 |
| % Male sex | 65 | 63 | 70 | >0.05 |
| Marital status, N (%) | >0.05 | |||
| Married | 1069 (52) | 856 (53) | 213 (46) | |
| Missing | 117 (6) | 87 (5) | 30 (6) | |
| Highest level of education | <0.001 | |||
| College/Uni degree | 548 (26) | 453 (28) | 95 (20) | |
| Currently in school/with diploma or degree-oriented programme | 440 (21) | 340 (21) | 100 (22) | |
| None/primary school | 246 (12) | 202 (13) | 44 (9) | |
| Secondary/high school | 620 (30) | 463 (29) | 157 (34) | |
| Missing | 221 (11) | 151 (9) | 70 (15) | |
| Employment type N (%) | <0.001 | |||
| Working | 1109 (53) | 842 (52) | 267 (57) | |
| Homemaker | 29 (1) | 25 (2) | 4 (1) | |
| Retired | 469 (23) | 412 (26) | 57 (12) | |
| Sick leave/unable to work | 49 (2) | 36 (2) | 13 (3) | |
| Student | 199 (10) | 142 (9) | 58712 | |
| Unemployed | 91 (4) | 66 (4) | 25 (5) | |
| Missing | 129 (6) | 86 (5) | 43 (9) | |
| Employment status, N (%) | <0.001 | |||
| Yes | 1109 (53) | 842 (52) | 267 (57) | |
| Retired | 469 (23) | 412 (26) | 57 (12) | |
| No | 368 (18) | 269 (17) | 99 (21) | |
| Missing | 129 (6) | 86 (5) | 43 (9) | |
| ASA preinjury health status,§§ N (%) | ||||
| Healthy | 1223 (59) | 917 (57) | 307 (66) | |
| Mild disease | 663 (32) | 538 (33) | 125 (27) | |
| Severe disease | 175 (8) | 146 (9) | 29 (6) | |
| Missing | 14 (1) | 8 (1) | 6 (1) | |
| Preinjury substance abuse¶¶ | <0.001 | |||
| Yes | 45 (2) | 27 (2) | 18 (4) | |
| Missing | 19 (1) | 8 (1) | 11 (2) | |
| Pre-injury mental health problems,** N (%) | <0.01 | |||
| Yes | 205 (10) | 169 (11) | 36 (8) | |
| Missing | 23 (1) | 8 (1) | 11 (2) | |
| Injury characteristics | ||||
| Cause of injury, N (%) | <0.001 | |||
| Road traffic incident | 851 (41) | 618 (38) | 233 (50) | |
| Incidental fall | 908 (44) | 751 (47) | 157 (34) | |
| Other non-intentional injury | 174 (8) | 136 (8) | 38 (8) | |
| Violence/assaults | 104 (5) | 79 (5) | 25 (5) | |
| Missing | 38 (2) | 25 (2) | 13 (3) | |
| Major extracranial injury,†† N (%) | <0.001 | |||
| Yes | 744 (35) | 450 (28) | 269 (58) | |
| ISS | 13 (8–25) | 10 (5–18) | 29 (25–41) | <0.001 |
| Any intracranial abnormality,‡‡ N (%) | <0.001 | |||
| Present | 863 (42) | 711 (44) | 385 (83) | |
| Missing | 116 (6) | 80 (5) | 36 (8) | |
Statistics are for the difference between mild and moderate/severe subgroups.
*Patients<16 years of age (n=149), proxy responses (n=251), patients with missing GOSE (n=8) and those that did not complete the HRQoL questionnaires (n=476) were excluded.
†Initial injury severity was assessed with the GCS. TBI was considered mild in patients with GCS 13–15, moderate in patients with GCS 9–12, and severe in patients with GCS of 3–8.
‡P values from ANOVA for continuous and χ² statistics for categorical variables.
§Preinjury health status was assessed with the American Society of Anesthesiologists—physical status classification system (ASA-PS).
¶Patients with a history of substance abuse disorder prior to the injury.
**Patients with a history of anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, or schizophrenia prior to the injury.
††Patients with an Abbreviated Injury Scale≥3 regarding the all body regions excluding head and neck.
‡‡The presence of intracranial traumatic abnormalities was assessed through the first CT scan after injury, and indicates whether any of the 12 following abnormalities was present: mass lesion, hematoma, epidural hematoma, acute or subacute subdural hematoma, subdural collection mixed density, contusion, TAI, traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage, intraventricular haemorrhage, midline shift or cisternal compression.
AIS, Abbreviated Injury Scale; ASA-PS, The American Society of Anesthesiologists-physical status classification system; GCS, Glasgow Coma Scale; ISS, Injury Severity Score; MEI, major extracranial injury; N, number; TBI, traumatic brain injury.