A prospective study to validate an impairment questionnaire for major trauma survivors.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate an impairment questionnaire that will provide an estimate of whole-person impairment in patients who have suffered major trauma.

DESIGN: This was a multicenter prospective study involving a convenience sample of 43 volunteer participants who had sustained major trauma within 1 yr of study commencement. Patients were recruited from two trauma centers in Ontario, Canada. The impairment questionnaire was developed as a self-administered questionnaire based on the American Medical Association's Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment, Fourth Edition.

RESULTS: Clinician assessments of whole-person impairment showed adequate interrater (r > or = 0.55, P < or = 0.03) and intrarater (r > or = 0.62, P < or = 0.055) reliabilities across dimensions. The impairment questionnaire correlated significantly with clinician assessments at the initial visit (r > or = 0.57, P < 0.001) and at follow-up (r > 0.60, P < 0.001). Comparison of the physical and emotional subcategories of the impairment questionnaire, whole-person impairment ratings by physicians, and the Short Form 36 demonstrated good convergent and divergent validity of the impairment questionnaire.

CONCLUSIONS: The impairment questionnaire is a reliable and valid self-administered tool that can be used to evaluate physical impairment after major trauma.