Authors: Maja Stulemeijer Sieberen van der Werf Gijs Bleijenberg Jan Biert Jolanda Brauer Pieter EVos
Publish Date: 2006/05/17
Volume: 253, Issue: 8, Pages: 1041-1047
Abstract
Postal questionnaires were sent to a consecutive group of patients with an MTBI and a minorinjury control group aged 18–60 six months after injury Fatigue severity was measured with the Checklist Individual Strength Postconcussional symptoms and limitations in daily functioning were assessed using the Rivermead Post Concussion Questionnaire and the SF36A total of 299 out of 618 eligible response rate 52 MTBI patients and 287 out of 482 eligible response rate 60 minorinjury patients returned the questionnaire Ninetyfive MTBI patients 32 and 35 control patients 12 were severely fatigued Severe fatigue was highly associated with the experience of other symptoms limitations in physical and social functioning and fatigue related problems like reduced activity Of various trauma severity indices nausea and headache experienced on the ED were significantly related to higher levels of fatigue at six monthsIn conclusion one third of a large sample of MTBI patients experiences severe fatigue six months after injury and this experience is associated with limitations in daily functioning Our finding that acute symptoms and mechanism of injury rather than injury severity indices appear to be related to higher levels of fatigue warrants further investigation
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