• Marianne Jodoin, Dominique M Rouleau, Camille Larson-Dupuis, Benoit Benoit, Stéphane Leduc, G-Yves Laflamme, Nadia Gosselin, Meriem Sabir, and Louis De Beaumont.
• a Department of Psychology , University of Montreal , Montreal , QC , Canada.
• Brain Inj. 2017 Jan 1; 31 (12): 1683-1688.

BackgroundThe objective is to explore the effects of concomitant mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) on return to work (RTW), among patients suffering from an isolated limb fracture. This follow-up study included a total of 170 working age subjects with an isolated limb fracture, and was conducted in a phone interview approximately 1-year post trauma. 41 had experienced an mTBI and 129 did not.MethodsData were obtained through a phone interview conducted on average 20.7 months (SD = 9.6 months) post-accident. The main outcome measure was the number of days taken to RTW after the injury. Demographic information was also gathered during the phone interview. Workers' compensation status was obtained through the hospitals' orthopaedic clinic data.ResultsThe mTBI group took on average 329.7 days (SD = 298.0) to RTW after the injury, as opposed to 150.3 days (SD = 171.3) for the control group (p < 0.001). After excluding patients who received workers' compensation, the mTBI group still missed significantly more days of work (M = 299.4 days; SD = 333.0) than the control group (M = 105.2 days; SD = 121.6) (p < 0.0001).ConclusionThis study shows that mTBI increases work disability by preventing working-age individuals from rapidly returning to work.

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