Relationship between early somatic, radiological, cognitive and psychosocial findings and outcome during a one-year follow-up in 117 patients suffering from common whiplash.

To analyse the significance of the interplay between somatic and psychosocial factors in influencing the course of recovery a non-selected well defined group of 117 whiplash patients was investigated. Initial examination was performed, on average, 7.2 +/- 4.2 days after trauma and follow-ups were carried out at 3, 6 and 12 months. At the initial investigation all patients were given a neurological examination, cognitive and psychosocial factor assessment and cervical spine X-rays. At each follow-up stepwise regression was performed to evaluate the relationship between initial findings and the course of recovery. Fifty-one (44%), 36 (31%) and 28 (24%) patients were symptomatic at 3, 6 and 12 months respectively. Poor improvement at all examinations was significantly correlated with factors associated with severity of injury such as initial symptoms of radicular irritation and intensity of neck pain. Moreover, results indicate that poor recovery is related to severity of injury in addition to some pre-traumatic factors (previous history of head trauma and headache) and initial injury-related reaction (i.e. sleep disturbances, reduced speed of information processing and nervousness). However, psychosocial factors did not prove predictive at any follow-up examination. These results indicate that symptoms suggesting a more severe neck injury appear to be particularly related to delayed recovery from common whiplash. Moreover these results may be of value in the objective evaluation of potentially difficult claims for compensation, which may in some cases be falsely based.