Soft-tissue injury of the neck in a hospital based material

In a study from northern Sweden, 139 patients with a history of a soft-tissue injury of the neck were studied. The incidence was 1 per 1000 inhabitants. Male patients in the age group 20-29 years were most commonly injured. Traffic accidents constituted the major group with 96 (69%) and falls with 24 (17%). Forty-one cases received sickness benefit for a median time of 16 days for males and 25 days for females. Five persons were on sick-leave for over a year. The calculated total cost of treatment and sickness insurance benefit was about 0.9 million SEK/year.