• Leontien M Sturms, Corry K van der Sluis, Johan W Groothoff, Henk Jan ten Duis, and Willem H Eisma.
• Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University Hospital Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands. L.M.Sturms@rev.azg.nl
• Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2003 Mar 1;84(3):431-6.

ObjectivesTo describe the long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL) reported by young traffic injury victims and to assess the child-parent agreement on the child's HRQOL.DesignCohort study with a mean follow-up of 2.4 years.SettingTraumatology department in a university hospital in The Netherlands.ParticipantsAll traffic injury victims treated at the traumatology department in 1996-1997 and aged 8 to 15 years at follow-up (N = 254). The data of 157 child-parent pairs were available for analysis (mean follow-up age, 12+/-2.4 y; 57% boys; 24% hospitalized).InterventionsNot applicable.Main Outcome MeasureTNO-AZL Children's Quality of Life parent and child questionnaires.ResultsYoung traffic injury victims reported a significantly lower HRQOL in the motor and autonomy scales compared with contemporaries in the reference group. The child-parent agreement ranged from low to moderate (intraclass correlations,.35-.67). A comparison made between the children and their parents found that the children were more negative regarding the physical complaints and the motor, autonomy, and positive-emotion scales.ConclusionsYoung traffic injury victims reported a reasonably good long-term HRQOL, and, surprisingly, few psychologic problems were revealed. Physicians who rely only on parental reports may overestimate the child's HRQOL, especially when assessing the physical functioning. The child's own reports should not be neglected in the assessment of a comprehensive picture of the child's HRQOL.Copyright 2003 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

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