Disability Duration in Musculoskeletal Injured Patients due to Automobile Accidents

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to refer descriptive statistics of the disability duration in musculoskeletal injured patients in the automobile accidents. METHOD: The authors chose 469,319 injured patients in traffic accidents as subjects that met inclusion criteria with 8 representative Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) comparable with 4th edition of Korean standard classification of diseases. Mean, standard deviation, mode, median, maximum and minimum of 8 representative AIS code were calculated. RESULTS: Mean disability duration for minor cervical sprain was 18.8 days, that of moderate cervical disc herniation was 56.2 days, that of serious cervical disc herniation was 141.5 days, that of minor lumbar sprain was 21.2 days, that of moderate lumbar disc herniation was 53.5 days, that of serious lumbar disc herniation was 128.1 days, that of sprain of 3 major joint in lower limb without desmorrhexis was 24.0 days, and that of dislocation or desmorrhexis of 3 major joint in lower limb was 101.2 days. CONCLUSION: Disability duration of the representative musculoskeletal diseases comparable to AIS code in 4th edition of Korean standard classification of diseases was presented and this study can be utilized as a basic recommended disability duration of automobile injured persons.