Skip to main content

Table 2 Baseline characteristics

From: Evidence-based care in high- and low-risk groups following whiplash injury: a multi-centre inception cohort study

Variables

N

All participants

(n = 215)

Lost to follow-up

(n = 53)

P-value

Low risk

(n = 35)

Medium risk

(n = 106)

High risk

(n = 66)

P-value

Age, mean (SD), in years

205

42 (16)

41(15)

0.597

26 (6)****

41 (17)****

53 (12)****

<  0.001

Gender, n (%)

198

       

 Male

 

89 (45)

21 (44)

0.848

12 (38)

43 (43)

32 (51)

0.432

 Female

 

109 (55)

27 (56)

20 (63)

56 (57)

31 (49)

Body Mass Index, mean (SD)

198

27.5 (7.4)

27.6 (7.1)

0.898

25.6 (6.2)

26.9 (6.3)

29.4 (9.1)*

0.035

Continent of birth, n (%)

204

       

 Australia

 

128 (60)

30 (63)

0.952

26 (77)

65 (64)

32 (51)

0.114

 Europe

 

19 (9)

5 (10)

1 (3)

11 (11)

7 (11)

 Other

 

57 (27)

13 (27)

7 (21)

26 (26)

24 (38)

Marital status, n (%)

204

       

 Never married

 

63 (29)

19 (40)

0.089

21 (62)

34 (33)

8 (13)

<  0.001

 Married or de facto

 

113 (53)

20 (42)

11 (32)

57 (55)

43 (68)*

 Divorced, widowed or separated

 

28 (13)

9 (19)

2 (6)

12 (12)

12 (19)

Position in crash, n (%)

204

       

 Driver

 

136 (63)

33 (69)

0.979

21 (62)

78 (76)

34 (54)

0.034

 Passenger

 

32 (15)

7 (15)

7 (21)

11 (11)**

14 (22)

 Motorcyclist

 

21 (10)

5 (10)

3 (9)

11 (11)

6 (10)

 Bicyclist or pedestrian

 

15 (7)

3 (6)

3 (9)

3 (3)

9 (14)

Hospital presentation, mean (SD), days

204

189 (88)

44 (92)

0.766

29 (85)

95 (92)

62 (98)*

0.049

Hospital LOS, mean (SD), in days

101

3.1 (3.4)

2.04 (1.5)

0.009*

2.07 (1.3)

3.1 (3.6)

3.6 (3.7)

0.412

Employment, mean (SD)

204

       

 Paid work

 

125 (58)

28 (58)

0.328

26 (77)

68 (66)

28 (44)

0.001

 Self-employed

 

29 (14)

11 (23)

3 (9)

12 (12)

14 (22)

 Student

 

11 (5)

2 (4)

4 (12)

7 (7)

0 (0)*

 Retired

 

18 (8)

4 (8)

0 (0)

7 (7)

11 (18)

 Other

 

21 (10)

3 (6)

1 (3)

9 (9)

10 (16)

Occupation type

154

       

 Professional

 

52 (24)

13 (33)

0.829

13 (45)

22 (28)

16 (38)

0.292

 Clerical and administrative

 

21 (10)

4 (10)

3 (10)

14 (18)

4 (10)

 Technical and trades

 

18 (8)

3 (8)

1 (3)

12 (15)

5 (12)

 Manager

 

22 (10)

7 (18)

2 (7)

13 (17)

6 (14)

 Community and personal services

 

19 (9)

5 (13)

7 (24)

7 (9)

5 (12)

 Other

 

22 (10)

7 (18)

3 (10)

12 (15)

6 (14)

Pain/ Disability

 NDI total score (0–50/50)

209

21 (9)

21 (10)

0.875

11 (4)****

20 (9)****

28 (5)****

<  0.001

 Pain during past week (NRS: 0–10/10)

210

7 (2)

7 (2)

0.618

6 (2)

6 (2)

8 (2)*

<  0.001

 PCS total score (0–52/52)

209

22 (14)

24 (14)

0.302

16 (10)

20 (13)

30 (14)*

<  0.001

 PCS- Rumination (0–16/16)

202

9 (5)

9 (5)

0.393

6 (4)

7 (4)

11 (5)*

<  0.001

 PCS- Magnification (0–12/12)

203

6 (4)

6 (4)

0.175

4 (3)

5 (3)

7 (3)*

<  0.001

 PCS- Helplessness (0–24/24)

202

10 (7)

10 (7)

0.239

6 (5)

8 (7)

12 (6)*

<  0.001

 OMPQ total score (0–210/210)

203

53 (18)

54 (19)

0.500

46 (11)

49 (20)

65 (12)*

<  0.001

 OMPQ expectations of recovery (0–10/10)

210

4 (3)

4 (3)

0.899

3 (2)

4 (3)

6 (3)*

<  0.001

General Health

 SF −12: MCS (0–100/100)

209

43 (13)

43 (12)

0.887

49 (13)

43 (13)

38 (11)*

<  0.001

 SF −12: PhCS (0–100/100)

209

33 (9)

33 (9)

0.790

37 (9)

34 (10)

28 (6)*

<  0.001

 EQ5D 3 L

        

  VAS pre-accident (0–100/100)

211

85 (12)

82 (14)

0.016*

86 (10)

85 (10)

84 (14)

0.786

  Pre-accident (0–1/1)

210

1 (0.1)

1 (0.2)

0.512

1 (0.1)

1 (0.1)

1 (0.2)

0.213

  Post-accident (0–1/1)

211

0.3 (0.3)

0.3 (0.4)

0.640

0.5 (0.3)

0.3 (0.4)

0.1 (0.3)*

<  0.001

Psychological

 IES-R total score (0–88/88)

210

39 (24)

38 (22)

0.860

33 (22)

33 (23)

53 (21)*

<  0.001

 IES-R total sub scale score (0–12/12)

213

5.2 (3.4)

4.5 (3.4)

0.103

5.1 (3.6)

5.2 (3.3)

5.1 (3.5)

0.963

 IES-R - Avoidance (0–4/4)

214

1.7 (1.2)

1.6 (1.1)

0.521

1.7 (1.3)

1.7 (1.1)

1.6 (1.2)

0.911

 IES-R - Intrusion (0–4/4)

214

1.7(1.2)

1.5 (1.2)

0.147

1.6 (1.2)

1.8 (1.2)

1.7 (1.3)

0.854

 IES-R - Hyperarousal (0–4/4)

204

1.8 (1.2)

1.5 (1.1)

0.010*

1.9 (1.2)

1.8 (1,1)

1.8 (1.2)

0.774

 PDS - Hyperarousal (0–15/15)

204

8 (4)

8 (4)

0.909

6 (5)

7 (4)

10 (3)*

<  0.001

 DASS total score (0–63/63)

211

20 (18)

21 (19)

0.651

14 (16)

17 (16)

29 (18)*

<  0.001

 DASS - Depression (0–21/21)

211

6 (6)

6 (6)

0.632

4 (6)

5 (5)

9 (7)*

<  0.001

 DASS - Anxiety (0–21/21)

204

6 (6)

7 (7)

0.212

4 (5)

4 (5)

9 (6)*

<  0.001

 DASS - Stress (0–21/21)

204

8 (7)

8 (7)

0.896

6 (7)

7 (6)

12 (6)*

<  0.001

  1. Abbreviations: LOS Length of stay, NDI Neck Disability Index, NRS Numeric Rating Scale, PCS Pain Catastrophising Scale, OMPQ Orebro Musculoskeletal Pain Questionnaire, SF-12 Short-form 12 general health questionnaire, EQ5D 3 L Euro Quality of Life – 5 Dimensions - 3 Levels, IES-R Impact of Events Scale – revised, PTSD Post-traumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale, DASS Depression, Anxiety and Stress scale
  2. Post hoc significance: ****low vs. med vs. high; *high vs. low and med; **med vs. low and high. p > 0.05
Back to article page

BMC Health Services Research

ISSN: 1472-6963

Contact us