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Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had multiple health and behavioral effects in the general population worldwide, including effects on nutritional and lifestyle behavior such as alcohol consumption. This study aimed to determine the frequency of and predictors for change in alcohol consumption two years after onset of the COVID-19 pandemic among participants from the general population of six countries. Methods: Longitudinal study design with 4999 participants (47% male; aged 18–75 years) from a general population cohort from six countries: Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (US). Measurements: Three web-based surveys at different time waves: T1 = 22 April–1 June 2020; T2 = 2 May–29 June 2021 and T3 = 29 April–25 June 2022. The surveys included questions on self-reported retrospective alcohol consumption, demographics, health, anxiety and depression symptoms and recent life events. Results: Of 4999 respondents, most (82.3%) reported no change in drinking habits during the pandemic, whereas 12.5% reported drinking less and 5.1% drinking more. Predictive factors for increased alcohol consumption include age 35–54 years, male gender, high educational level, moderate-severe depression symptoms, excessive drinking before the COVID-19 pandemic, no change in general health status and job loss. Predictive factors for decreased alcohol consumption were age 18–34 years, male gender, having chronic disease(s), moderate-severe depression symptoms, excessive drinking before the pandemic and job loss. Conclusion: The proportion of participants who reported a decrease in alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic was higher compared to those who reported an increase. Excessive drinking before the pandemic, depression symptoms and job loss were predictors for both drinking more and drinking less alcohol during the COVID-19 pandemic with an stronger association for an increase in alcohol consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) may affect the lives of the individuals concerned and their relatives negatively in many dimensions. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a comprehensive and complex concept that can assess one's satisfaction with a broad range of areas of life and health. The Quality of Life after Traumatic Brain Injury (QOLIBRI) questionnaire is a TBI-specific measure for HRQoL which is used in research and health services worldwide. When evaluating self-reported HRQoL after TBI, reference values from a general population are helpful to perform clinically relevant evaluations and decisions about the condition of an affected person by comparing the patient scores with reference values. Despite the widespread use of the QOLIBRI, reference values have until now only been available for the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The aim of this study was to validate the QOLIBRI for the general population in Italy and to provide reference values. An adapted form of the QOLIBRI was administered to 3298 Italians from a healthy general population using an online survey. Their scores were compared with those of 298 individuals post-TBI recruited within the international longitudinal observational cohort CENTER-TBI study in Italian hospitals, who completed the original questionnaire. The psychometric characteristics and the measurement invariance of the QOLIBRI were assessed. A regression analysis was performed to identify predictors relevant for HRQoL in the general population. Reference values were provided using percentiles. Measurement invariance analysis showed that the QOLIBRI captures the same HRQoL constructs in an Italian general population and Italian TBI sample from the observational Center-TBI study. Higher age, higher education and the absence of a chronic health condition were associated with higher QOLIBRI scores, suggesting better HRQoL. Reference values were provided for a general Italian population adjusted for age, sex, education and presence of chronic health conditions. We recommend using these for a better interpretation of the QOLIBRI score in clinical practice and research in Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate socioeconomic and health-related determinants and recent life events and their relation to changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and mental well-being during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. A web-based survey was administered repeatedly to participants from Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Primary outcome measures were HRQoL (measured by EQ-5D-5L) and mental well-being (measured by WHO-5). Linear regression analyses were performed to estimate the impact of determinants on HRQoL and well-being. In total, 6765 respondents completed the questionnaire at T1 (April–May 2020) and T2 (May–June 2021). Regarding results, 33% showed improved HRQoL at T2, whereas 31% deteriorated. In terms of mental well-being, 44% improved and 41% deteriorated. The greatest deterioration in HRQoL and mental well-being from T1 to T2 was observed with an increasing number of chronic conditions. The effect of negative life events on HRQoL and mental well-being was larger than the effect of positive life events. We conclude that slightly more respondents showed improved rather than deteriorated HRQoL and mental well-being, with some variation by outcome measure and country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After traumatic brain injury (TBI), individuals may experience short- or long-term health burdens, often referred to as post-concussion symptoms (PCS). The Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) is one of the commonly used instruments to assess self-reported PCS. To date, no reference values for RPQ have been provided, although they are crucial for clinical practice when evaluating a patient's health status relative to a comparable healthy population. Therefore, the aim of this study is to provide reference values for the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Italy. A total of 11,759 individuals (50.3% women) from representative general population samples participated in an online survey (4646 individuals from the UK, 3564 from the Netherlands, and 3549 from Italy). The factorial structure of the RPQ was examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and results from the general population samples were compared with those from respective TBI samples recruited within the international CENTER-TBI study using multigroup CFA. Reference values were stratified by sex, health status, age, and education using percentiles. The three-factorial model outperformed the one-factorial structure. The general population samples were largely comparable to the corresponding TBI samples, except for items such as dizziness, vision, and sensory sensitivity, which can be considered more TBI-specific. Because of the significant differences between the general population samples, we provided reference values for the total score and for the somatic, emotional, and cognitive scales for each country separately. The reference values provided can now be used in clinical practice and research. Future studies should obtain stratified reference values for other countries and languages to improve accuracy in the diagnosis and treatment of symptom burden after TBI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children and adolescents are at high risk of traumatic brain injuries (TBI). To identify those most at risk across Europe, a comprehensive epidemiological study on the burden of TBI is needed. Our aim was to estimate the burden of TBI in the pediatric and adolescent population of Europe by calculating rates of hospital-based incidence, death and years of life lost (YLL) due to TBI in 33 countries of Europe in 2014 (most recent available data). We conducted a cross-sectional observational, population-based study. All cases with TBI in the age range 0 to 19, registered in the causes of death databases or hospital discharge databases of 33 European countries were included. Crude and age-standardized rates of hospital discharges, deaths and YLLs due to TBI; and pooled estimates for all countries combined were calculated. TBI caused 2303 deaths (71% in boys), 154,282 YLLs (68% in boys) and 441,368 hospital discharges (61% in boys) in the population of 0–19 year-olds. We estimated pooled age-standardized rates of death (2.8, 95% CI: 2.4–3.3), YLLs (184.4, 95% CI: 151.6–217.2) and hospital discharges (344.6, 95% CI: 250.3–438.9) for the analyzed countries in 2014. The population of 15–19 year-olds had the highest rates of deaths and YLLs, and the population of 0–4 year-olds had the highest rate of hospital discharges. Detailed estimates of hospital discharge, death and YLL rates based on high-quality, standardized data may be used to develop health policies, aid decision-making and plan prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depression and anxiety are common following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Understanding their prevalence and interplay within the first year after TBI with differing severities may improve patients' outcomes after TBI. Individuals with a clinical diagnosis of TBI recruited for the large European collaborative longitudinal study CENTER-TBI were screened for patient-reported major depression (MD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) at three, six, and twelve months post-injury (N = 1683). Data were analyzed using autoregressive cross-lagged models. Sociodemographic, premorbid and injury-related factors were examined as risk factors. 14.1–15.5% of TBI patients reported moderate to severe MD at three to twelve months after TBI, 7.9–9.5% reported GAD. Depression and anxiety after TBI presented high within-domain persistency and cross-domain concurrent associations. MD at three months post-TBI had a significant impact on GAD at six months post-TBI, while both acted bidirectionally at six to twelve months post-TBI. Being more severely disabled, having experienced major extracranial injuries, an intensive care unit stay, and being female were risk factors for more severe MD and GAD. Major trauma and the level of consciousness after TBI were additionally associated with more severe MD, whereas being younger was related to more severe GAD. Individuals after TBI should be screened and treated for MD and GAD early on, as both psychiatric disturbances are highly persistent and bi-directional in their impact. More severely disabled patients are particularly vulnerable, and thus warrant timely screening and intensive follow-up treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) are at risk for post-concussion (PC) symptoms and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The co-occurrence of PC and PTSD symptoms after mTBI in relation to health-related quality of life (HRQoL), health care utilization, and return to work has not yet been investigated. PC and PTSD symptoms were measured six months post-TBI by respectively the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) and the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). Of the 1566 individuals after mTBI who met the inclusion criteria, 26.1% experienced PC symptoms (RPQ ≥16). Additionally, 9.8% experienced PTSD symptoms (PCL-5 ≥ 33), of which the vast majority (81%) also reported experiencing PC symptoms. Differences between patients with no/mild symptoms, with only PC, only PTSD, and both PC and PTSD symptoms in HRQoL, return to work, and rehabilitation were analyzed using logistic and linear regression analyses. Patients with PC and/or PTSD symptoms reported lower HRQoL, higher rates of rehabilitation, and lower return to work rates compared to patients with no/mild symptoms. Patients with both PC and PTSD symptoms reported significantly lower HRQoL (B = −2.73, CI = −4.65; −0.83, p < 0.001) compared to those with only PC symptoms, while there were no significant differences in their ongoing rehabilitation care (OR = 1.39, CI = 0.77–2.49, p = 0.272) and return to work rates (OR = 0.49, CI = 0.15–1.63, p = 0.246) at six months. These results underline the importance of the diagnosis and appropriate treatment of patients with mTBI, experiencing PC and/or PTSD symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about post-concussion-like symptoms in the general injury population and the association of these symptoms with outcome after injury. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of post-concussion-like symptoms in a general injury population and describe the association between post-concussion syndrome (PCS) and health-related quality of life (HRQL), health care use, and return to work. In this longitudinal study of a cohort of injury patients, data were collected 6 and 12 months after their Emergency Department visit. Questionnaires included socio-demographics, health care utilization, return to work and the five-level version of the EuroQol five-dimensional descriptive system (EQ-5D-5L) to measure HRQL. The 12-month questionnaire included the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ). In total, 282 (22.0%) of the 1282 patients met the criteria for PCS. Apart from the high prevalence of PCS in patients with head injuries (29.4%), a considerable proportion of non-head injury patients also had PCS (20.6%) a year after injury. Patients with PCS had lower HRQL, lower return to work rates, and higher health care utilization, compared to patients without PCS. This underlines the importance of developing strategies to prevent post-concussion-like symptoms among injury patients, raising awareness among patients and physicians on the occurrence of PCS, early detection of PCS in the general injury population, and development of strategies to optimize recovery in this group of injury patients, ultimately leading to lower the individual and economic burden of injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Quality of Life after Traumatic Brain Injury (QOLIBRI) instrument is an internationally validated patient-reported outcome measure for assessing disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in individuals after traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, no reference values for general populations are available yet for use in clinical practice and research in the field of TBI. The aim of the present study was, therefore, to establish these reference values for the United Kingdom (UK) and the Netherlands (NL). For this purpose, an online survey with a reworded version of the QOLIBRI for general populations was used to collect data on 4403 individuals in the UK and 3399 in the NL. This QOLIBRI version was validated by inspecting descriptive statistics, psychometric criteria, and comparability of the translations to the original version. In particular, measurement invariance (MI) was tested to examine whether the items of the instrument were understood in the same way by different individuals in the general population samples and in the TBI sample across the two countries, which is necessary in order to establish reference values. In the general population samples, the reworded QOLIBRI displayed good psychometric properties, including MI across countries and in the non-TBI and TBI samples. Therefore, differences in the QOLIBRI scores can be attributed to real differences in HRQoL. Individuals with and without a chronic health condition did differ significantly, with the latter reporting lower HRQoL. In conclusion, we provided reference values for healthy individuals and individuals with at least one chronic condition from general population samples in the UK and the NL. These can be used in the interpretation of disease-specific HRQoL assessments after TBI applying the QOLIBRI on the individual level in clinical as well as research contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to provide a comprehensive examination of the relation of complicated and uncomplicated mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) with multidimensional outcomes at three- and six-months after TBI. We analyzed data from the Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research (CENTER-TBI) research project. Patients after mTBI (Glasgow Coma scale (GCS) score of 13–15) enrolled in the study were differentiated into two groups based on computed tomography (CT) findings: complicated mTBI (presence of any traumatic intracranial injury on first CT) and uncomplicated mTBI (absence of any traumatic intracranial injury on first CT). Multidimensional outcomes were assessed using seven instruments measuring generic and disease-specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (SF-36 and QOLIBRI), functional outcome (GOSE), and psycho-social domains including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (PCL-5), depression (PHQ-9), and anxiety (GAD-7). Data were analyzed using a multivariate repeated measures approach (MANOVA-RM), which inspected mTBI groups at three- and six-months post injury. Patients after complicated mTBI had significantly lower GOSE scores, reported lower physical and mental component summary scores based on the SF-36 version 2, and showed significantly lower HRQoL measured by QOLIBRI compared to those after uncomplicated mTBI. There was no difference between mTBI groups when looking at psychological outcomes, however, a slight improvement in PTSD symptoms and depression was observed for the entire sample from three to six months. Patients after complicated mTBI reported lower generic and disease specific HRQoL and worse functional outcome compared to individuals after uncomplicated mTBI at three and six months. Both groups showed a tendency to improve from three to six months after TBI. The complicated mTBI group included more patients with an impaired long-term outcome than the uncomplicated group. Nevertheless, patients, clinicians, researchers, and decisions-makers in health care should take account of the short and long-term impact on outcome for patients after both uncomplicated and complicated mTBI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence of post-concussion symptoms and post-concussion syndrome (PCS) in a large cohort of patients after complicated and uncomplicated mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) at three and six months post-injury. Patients were included through the prospective cohort study: Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research (CENTER-TBI). Patients enrolled with mTBI (Glasgow Coma Scale 13–15) were further differentiated into complicated and uncomplicated mTBI based on the presence or absence of computed tomography abnormalities, respectively. The Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ) assessed post-concussion symptoms and PCS according to the mapped ICD-10 classification method. The occurrence of post-concussion symptoms and syndrome at both time points was calculated. Chi square tests were used to test for differences between and within groups. Logistic regression was performed to analyse the association between complicated versus uncomplicated mTBI and the prevalence of PCS. Patients after complicated mTBI reported slightly more post-concussion symptoms compared to those after uncomplicated mTBI. A higher percentage of patients after complicated mTBI were classified as having PCS at three (complicated: 46% vs. uncomplicated: 35%) and six months (complicated: 43% vs. uncomplicated 34%). After adjusting for baseline covariates, the effect of complicated versus uncomplicated mTBI at three months appeared minimal: odds ratio 1.25 (95% confidence interval: 0.95–1.66). Although patients after complicated mTBI report slightly more post-concussion symptoms and show higher PCS rates compared to those after uncomplicated mTBI at three and six months, complicated mTBI was only found a weak indicator for these problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]