I did NOT feel like this at all before the accident : do men and women report different health and life consequences of a road traffic injury?

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, injuries represent one of the leading causes of mortality, and nearly one-quarter of all injuries are road traffic related. In many high-income countries, the burden of road traffic injuries (RTIs) has shifted from premature death to injury and disability with long-term consequences; therefore, it is important to assess the full burden of an RTI on individual lives.

OBJECTIVE: To describe how men and women with minor and moderate injuries reported the consequences of an RTI on their health and lives.

METHODS: The study was designed as an explorative qualitative study, in which the answers to an open-ended question concerning the life and health consequences following injury were analysed using systematic text condensation.

PARTICIPANTS: A total of 692 respondents with a minor or a moderate injury were included.

RESULTS: The respondents reported the consequences of the crash on their health and lives according to four categories: physical consequences, psychological consequences, everyday life consequences and financial consequences. The results show that medically classified minor and moderate injuries have detrimental long-term health and life consequences. Although men and women report some similar consequences, there are substantial differences in their reported psychological and everyday life consequences following an injury. Women report travel anxiety and PTSD-like symptoms, being life altering for them compared with men, for whom these types of reports were missing.

CONCLUSION: These differences emphasise the importance of considering gender-specific physical and psychological consequences following an RTI.