How do burn survivors compare to US population-based norms and other injury populations in health-related quality of life?

Dagmar Amtmann¹, Kara McMullen¹, Alyssa Bamer¹, Oscar Suman-Vejas², Jeffrey C Schneider³, Colleen M Ryan⁴, Nicole Gibran¹, Kimberly Roaten⁵, Barclay Stewart¹,
¹University Of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
²University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, United States
³Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
⁴Massachusetts General Hospital , Boston, MA, United States
⁵University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, United States

Abstract

Aims: Burn injury (BI) survivors may experience significant disability after injury. The aims of this study were to compare self-reported health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a BI sample located in the United States compared to 1) US population norms and 2) other US populations with chronic conditions including spinal cord injury (SCI), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and multiple sclerosis (MS).
Methods: The study analyzed 6-month post-injury PROMIS-29 data from 580 people with BI in the Burn Model System National Database. PROMIS-29 assesses physical function, anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, ability to participate in social roles, and pain interference. T-tests were conducted to compare BI survivors with US population norms and to scores published for populations with SCI (anxiety, depression), TBI (social roles, pain interference), and MS (physical function, anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disturbance, and pain interference). P-values less than 0.05 were considered significant.
Results: Compared to US population norms, people with BI reported significantly lower physical function scores and higher pain interference, sleep disturbance, and fatigue scores. Depression and anxiety were not significantly different, while ability to participate in social roles scores were significantly higher among people with BI than US population. People with BI had significantly higher functioning on all domains compared to MS population (all p-values were less than 0.01), significantly higher ability to participate in social roles than the TBI population, and significantly lower anxiety and depression than SCI population. People with BI had significantly more pain interference than TBI population.
Conclusions: People with BI reported lower HRQOL than the US population across physical health domains at six-months after injury, but higher functioning compared to people with MS, and differences in pain, anxiety, and depression compared to TBI and SCI populations. Further work to identify drivers of HRQOL in and across these populations is required.

Biography

Dagmar Amtmann, PhD is a Research Professor at the University of Washington (UW), Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and the Principal Investigator of the UW Center on Outcomes Research in Rehabilitation (UWCORR) that houses projects related to measuring of health outcomes. She is a health outcomes researcher and the Principal Investigator of the National Data and Statistical Center for the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) funded Burn Model System.