Nearly half of trauma patients, even those without brain injuries, experience social deficits that make it harder for them to interact with friends and stay involved in the community, a recent study suggests. Traumatic brain injuries have long been linked to an increased risk of a wide range of short-term and long-term physical and mental health problems that can dramatically reduce quality of life, researchers note in the journal Surgery. But doctors don't yet have a clear picture of what type of social impairments may follow other types of traumatic injuries.
"Social functioning is considered a critical determinant of quality of life," said lead study author Dr Juan Herrera-Escobar of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. Broadly speaking, social function includes the ability to participate in organized and informal activities with friends, relatives, and people in the community or the workplace. Serious injuries can lead to physical and emotional issues that contribute to social deficits, and long hospital stays that keep patients away from their daily routines for weeks on end can make matters worse.
For the current study, researchers followed 805 adults hospitalized for moderate to severe traumatic injuries. During the year after the injury, 364 of them, or 45%, reported experiencing social dysfunction. In the study, researchers assessed social function 6 months and 12 months after injuries. Each time, they asked patients how often physical or emotional challenges interfered with social activities in the previous four weeks.
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