Injury diagnosis quality of life among motorcyclists, victims of traffic accidents

This study characterizes motorcyclists living at Maringá-Paraná-Brazil, who were victims of traffic accidents and were attended in hospitals for trauma treatments. The injured have been characterized according to trauma severity, body regions affected and the body region with the most serious injury, besides identifying possible differences in the quality of life of the victims who developed traumatic brain injury. While the Injury Severity Score was used to evaluate trauma severity, the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey was applied to assess the victims' quality of life. With respect to trauma severity, victims with mild injuries (73.14%) were predominant. Most victims (59.70%) were injured in the lower members of the body, followed by injuries in the upper ones (58.21%) and in the head (31.34%). Limbs were most affected when compared to other body regions. There was no difference in the quality of life of post-trauma victims with or without cranium-encephalic trauma.