Health-Related Quality of Life and Function after Paediatric Injuries in India: A Longitudinal Study

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Pediatrics
• Quality of Life Research

Background:

• Childhood injuries represent a significant and growing public health concern in India.
• The long-term functional impairment and reduced health-related quality of life associated with these injuries necessitate better characterization of their burden.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of non-fatal paediatric injuries on health-related quality of life in Indian children.
• To evaluate the short- and long-term functional outcomes following childhood injuries in a prospective cohort.

Main Methods:

• A prospective cohort study involving 373 children admitted for non-fatal injuries across three hospitals in Chandigarh and Haryana, India.
• Utilized the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) and King's Outcome Scale for Childhood Head Injury (KOSCHI) for data collection.
• Administered assessments at baseline (pre-injury) and at 1, 2, 4, and 12 months post-injury via telephone interviews, achieving a 77% follow-up rate.

Main Results:

• Less than 1% of participants reported ongoing disability at 4 months post-injury, with no disability reported at 12 months.
• Physical health scores on the PedsQL were below healthy child norms for children aged 8-12 and 13-16 years at the 1-month follow-up.
• The majority of childhood injuries showed a low ongoing impact on functioning and disability by 12 months.

Conclusions:

• While childhood injuries are prevalent in India, most do not result in persistent disability.
• The study highlights potential limitations of generic, Western-centric health assessment tools in low- and middle-income settings.
• There is a need to develop and utilize locally relevant, context-specific tools for assessing childhood injury outcomes in India.