The association of compensation and long-term health status for people with severe traumatic injuries.

Objective: It was hypothesized that, for people with severe traumatic injuries, no association between long term health status and receiving financial compensation would be detected.
Design: Two prospective cohort studies.
Subjects: A group of people with severe traumatic brain injury (n = 132) and a group of people with traumatic spinal cord injury (n = 58).
Methods: Health status and functioning were measured at baseline and at 5 years follow-up for both injury groups. Results per group were compared between those who received compensation and those who were non-compensable.
Results: In the brain injury cohort those receiving financial compensation showed a significantly worse Disability Rating Scale score after 5 years compared to the non-receiving group (p = 0.01). Financial compensation was a modest predictor for being disabled (scores ≥ 4) after 5 years (Exp (B) = 2.47, 95% confidence interval 1.03 to 5.93). In the spinal cord injury cohort those receiving financial compensation scored significantly lower with the Short-Form 36 General Health Survey/Physical Component Summarise scores after 5 years than those who did not (p = 0.04). Again, receiving financial compensation had a modest predictive value for the Short-Form 36/Physical Component Summarise scores after 5 years (B = -4.72, SE = 2.16, 95% confidence interval -9.05 to -0.38).
Conclusion: Financial compensation may have a small negative association with recovery, even for people with severe traumatic injury.