COURSE OF ATTENTION AND MEMORY AFTER COMMON WHIPLASH - A 2-YEARS PROSPECTIVE-STUDY WITH AGE, EDUCATION AND GENDER PAIR-MATCHED PATIENTS

Attentional functioning and memory of common whiplash patients were ev aluated during the first two years after experiencing injury. The stud y was based on a non-selected sample of 117 whiplash patients referred from primary care and recruited according to a strict injury definiti on. All patients had a similar socioeconomic background, all being inj ured in automobile accidents and fully covered by insurance plans. Two years following initial trauma, 21 patients remained symptomatic. For each of these 21 patients, a counterpart matched by age, educational attainment and gender was selected from the group of patients who had fully recovered during the follow-up period. Symptomatic patients and matched controls were compared with regard to baseline, six-months and two-years findings. Examinations included testing of different aspect s of attention (i.e. Digit Span, Corsi Block-Tapping Test, Trail Makin g Test, Number Connection Test, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task) a nd memory functioning (California Verbal Learning Test). Cognitive fun ctioning was assessed in conjunction with self-ratings of cognitive ab ilities (Cognitive Failures Questionnaire), well-being (Well-being Sca le), headache and neckpain intensity, utilized medication and subjecti ve complaints. Results show no impairment of memory in symptomatic pat ients. In attentional functioning, different levels of improvement wer e found for symptomatic patients and matched counterparts, with the fo rmer showing difficulty at follow-up with tasks of divided attention. Utilized medication and pain intensity could not explain this differen ce in recovery of attentional functioning between the groups. These fi ndings suggest problems in selective aspects of attentional functionin g after common whiplash, which under real life circumstances may expla in these patients' cognitive complaints and cause adaptational problem s in daily life.