The ESPARR cohort comprises 1168 road-crash victims, aged 16 or over, managed in hospitals in the Rh_ne administrative d_partment (France). It is based on the Registry of Road Traffic Casualties, which has been collectingexhaustive data since 1995. Two groups are monitored: mild to moderate (M-AIS 1 or 2) and severe (M-AIS =3). Patients were interviewed at the pointof primary care, between 1 October 2004 and 31 July 2006. 6 months later,their state of health and presence of pain were compared. Multivariate analysis (logistic regression) was performed to identify factors related to residual pain. Adults of the cohort were compared to the road crash population as a whole recorded over the same period in the same area. At 6 months post-accident, only 31.9% of victims deemed their health status to have entirely returned to normal; 63.8% of mild to moderate and 89.2% of severecases reported residual pain, but neither pain frequency nor intensity correlated with M-AIS. Residual pain was related to lower limb injuries (OR = 1.6; 95% CI = 1.1-2.4). After adjustment, pain was essentially related to age, seriousness of the lesions and a stay in a rehabilitation unit. TheESPARR cohort provides a unique opportunity in France to describe the trajectory of a road crash victim, in terms both of care and rehabilitation and of resumption of work and personal activity. (A) Reprinted with permission from Elsevier.
Abstract