Postconcussion syndrome following mild head injury: how significant when it is work-related?

Postconcussional complaints are common after mild head injury. These symptoms can be so severe that some patients are unable to return to their previous employment. The purpose of this study is to investigate how important is work-related injury as a factor in determining the degree of disability caused by postconcussional symptoms. We studied 67 patients suffering from postconcussion syndrome after a mild head injury. These patients were divided into two groups, work-related injury and non-work-related injury. The results of this study demonstrated that the median duration of sick leave and the median amount of compensation were significantly higher in the work-related group (8 months vs. 1 month, P = 0.0007; US$9000 vs. US$500, P = 0.0035, respectively). Only 41% of the work-related injured patients returned to work, compared with 85.7% in the nonwork-related injury group (P = 0.0022). The results of this study strongly suggested that work-related injury is a significant factor in determining the degree of disability associated with postconcussion syndrome.