Correlation between Health-related Quality of Life Score and Injury Severity Score in Patients with Injury in Emergency Department

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to show the correlation between Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) score and injury severity score (ISS) in patients with injury in emergency department. METHODS: Between November 1, 2003, and March 2, 2004, 234 eligible injury patients who had visited our emergency center were enrolled in the study. HRQOL was assessed in 10 days after injury by Korean Short Form Health Survey- 36(KSF-36), Korean EuroQol 5 dimensions (KEQ-5D), and Korean Human Utility Index-3(KHUI-3). The severity of injury was measured by using the ISS. RESULTS: Of the 234 subjects, 149(63.7%) were men and 85(36.3%) were women, with mean(+/-SD) age of 46.1(+/-15.3) and mean ISS(+/-SD) of 4.54(+/-3.98). The KEQ-5D and KHUI-3 scores adjusted by ISS in patients with medical operation or hospitalization were significantly lower than those in patients without medical operation or hospitalization. All HRQOL scores except KSF-36 physical component summary (PCS) and general health (GH) score were significantly lower in patients group with high ISS than in patients group with low ISS. KEQ-5D and KHUI-3 had significant negative correlation with ISS (r=-0.58,-0.52). But there were no significant correlation between KSF-36 score and ISS. CONCLUSION: In this study, we observed that KEQ-5D and KHUI-3 scores in patients with injury were significantly correlated with ISS. However, to define the more definite feature of HRQOL in patients with injury, the study with more and large epidemiologic controlled injury group and detailed variable adjustment should be done.