Background. - In all industrialized countries, injuries constitute the
primary public health problem during adolescence; study of long-term
outcome of injuries to adolescents remains poor. Population and method
s. - A longitudinal epidemiological study performed on 8, 140 students
in 17 secondary schools in Paris and the Department of the Cote-d'Or
followed the development over one year of 777 adolescents who had inju
ries in 1990. All injuries, both within and outside school, were inclu
ded if they fulfilled the following criteria: school absence or excuse
d from vocational training exceeding or equal To 2 days, or excused fr
om physical education classes for at feast 14 days. Results. - One yea
r after the injury, 13% of the adolescents were still bothered by thei
r injury especially those who were older and the girls. Among describe
d impairments, musculo-skeletal problems (88% of cases) were the major
difficulty. These impairments were primarily in the lower limbs (53%)
. Unaesthetic scars were found in 17% of cases, and a psychological im
pact was found in 16.5% of the adolescents. The presence of sequelae w
as related to the type of initial lesion (present in 24% of head injur
ies and in 16% of cases affecting the lower limbs). The most serious d
ifficulties were caused by dislocations, serious sprains and fractures
. One year after the injury, sequelae were serious in 10% of those ado
lescents still experiencing problems; they had some impact on the dail
y life of the adolescents in 36% of cases, that is, 5% of all adolesce
nts experiencing an injury. These sequelae were responsible for a high
level of consumption of medical services. Conclusions. - Although obs
erved sequelae were relatively minor, the high frequency of injuries d
uring adolescence, as well as their high economic costs, justify the m
ost appropriate care available for victims of injuries, even those whi
ch appear benign. In addition, longitudinal studies should be prepared
using adapted tools (scales for the evaluation of the gravity of inju
ry sequelae).