National study finds post-traumatic stress disorder common among injured patients

Suffering a traumatic injury can have serious and long-lasting implications for a patient's mental health, according to the largest-ever U.S. study evaluating the impact of traumatic injury. Researchers from the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, the University of Washington, and the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that post-traumatic stress disorder and depression were very common among patients assessed one year after suffering a serious injury. They also found that injured patients diagnosed with PTSD or depression were six times more likely to not have returned to work in the year following the injury.