Knowing the type and amount of decline in health due to injury is important for several reasons. It enables quantification of the burden of injury and estimation of the effectiveness of treatment modalities, and it helps in identifying needs for assistance. It may lead to improvements in the provision of health and social services for the injured, and to a more rational allocation of resources for injury prevention. There is growing interest in the development and application of generic measures of health status and health-related quality of life. Currently, the most commonly used generic measure of health status is the Medical Outcome Study Short-Form 36 health survey (SF-36). This paper describes a study using the SF-36. It is concluded that the SF-36 appears to be a valid instrument to measure impact of injury on health status. Some limitations that affect wide application of the SF-36 as an empirical measure of health impact of injuries are mentioned.
Samenvatting