Objectives: To determine the demands on healthcare resources caused by different types of illnesses and variation with age and sex.

Recovery patterns vary widely between nonhospitalized, shortly, and long hospitalized injury patients. Nonhospitalized injury patients recover within 5 months from an injury whereas a considerable group of hospitalized injury patients suffer from persistent health problems. Our study indicates the importance of health monitoring with an adapted longitudinal design for injury patients. The time intervals used should match the various stages of the recovery process, which depends on the severity of the injury studied.

No abstract

Our guidelines should be tested and may lead to improved and more consistent epidemiologic data on the incidence, severity, and duration of injury-related disability.