Unconsciousness, amnesia and psychiatric symptoms following road traffic accident injury

Background Although road traffic accident injury is the most common cause o f traumatic brain injury, little is known of the prevalence of psychiatric complications or the significance of unconsciousness and amnesia. Aims To describe amnesia and unconsciousness following a road traffic accid ent and to determine whether they are associated with later psychological s ymptoms. Method Information was obtained from medical and ambulance records for 1441 consecutive attenders at an emergency department aged 17-69 who had been i nvolved in a road traffic accident. A total of 1148 (80%) subjects complete d a self-report questionnaire at baseline and were followed up at 3 months and I year. Results Altogether, 1.5% suffered major head (and traumatic brain) injury a nd 21% suffered minor head injury. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety and depression were more common at 3 months in those who had defin itely been unconscious than in those who had not, but there were nt, differ ences at I year. Conclusions PTSD and other psychiatric complications are as common in those who were briefly unconscious as in those who were not.