*3.1. Quantitative Results*

For demographic characteristics, see Table 1. For functional outcome measured by GOSE, self-reported health by EQ-VAS, self-reported anxiety and depression by HADS measured at 1-year and 7-year follow-up, and mental fatigue MFS at 7-year follow-up, see Table 2. For injury severity in relation to functional outcome, see Figure 1.

**Figure 1.** Injury severity on GCS at time of admission and EQ-VAS (overall health) at 7-year follow-up.


**Table 1.** Demographic characteristics at the time of admission and at 7-year follow-up.


**Table 2.** HADS-A, HADS-D, EQ-VAS score, GOSE, MFS at 1-year and 7-year follow-up.

HADS-A = Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale—Anxiety, HADS-D = Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale –Depression, EQ-VAS = Euro-QoL-Visual Analogue Scale, GOSE = Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended, MFS = Mental Fatigue Scale. Wilcoxon U test sign rank test was used for the study of paired observation variables.

3.1.1. Injury Severity, High Energy Trauma and Previous Brain Injury That Required Hospitalisation Compared with Functional Outcome and Overall Health at 1-Year and 7-Year Follow-Up

There was no significant correlation between initial injury severity and overall health at 1-year and 7-year follow-up (Table 3). Six of the seven women and two of the fourteen men had suffered high-energy trauma. There was no significant difference between persons injured by high energy trauma and persons with no high energy trauma regarding health or functional outcome at 1-year and 7-year follow-up (Table 4). In addition to STBI, one person had an extra-cranial injury (incomplete thoracic spinal cord injury) with overall health rated low at both 1-year (EQ-VAS 10) and 7-year (EQ-VAS 15) follow-up. Seven persons with a previous brain injury that required inpatient care scored significantly lower health at 1-year follow-up (*p* = 0.038) and at 7-year follow-up (*p* = 0.002) compared with those without earlier brain injury that required inpatient care (Table 4).


**Table 3.** Correlation between EQ-VAS and GCS, GOSE, HADS-A, HADS-D and MFS at 1-year and 7-year follow-up.

The Spearman correlation coefficient was used for the analysis of bivariate correlation.

**Table 4.** EQ-VAS and GOSE comparison between patients with and without: high energy trauma, previous brain injury with a hospital stay, changed livelihood and post-traumatic epilepsy.


Non-parametric test independent samples, Mann–Whitney U was used for comparison of continuous variables.

#### 3.1.2. Functional Outcome and Overall Health at 1-Year and 7-Year Follow-Up

Health on EQ5D-VAS and functional outcome on GOSE for all the participants were rated high both 1 year after trauma and after 7 years (Table 2). Functional outcome 1 year after trauma was median 7 (GOSE 3–8), i.e., "lower good recovery with minor physical or mental deficit" and unchanged at 7-year follow-up (Table 2). A significant difference was found between women and men regarding functional outcome: women had lower scores both at 1-year (*p* = 0.046) and 7-year (*p* = 0.046) follow-up. There was a significant positive correlation between functional outcome and overall health at 1-year (r = 0.513 *p* = 0.017) and 7-year follow-up (r = 0.614 *p* = 0.003), which indicates that higher functional outcome is related to better overall health (Table 3). Participants that scored severe disability (GOSE 3–4) scored significantly lower for health (*p* = 0.013) compared with persons with moderate and good recovery (GOSE 5–8). There was no significant difference in health scores for persons with moderate disability (GOSE 5–6) compared with persons with good recovery (GOSE 7–8) (*p* = 0.078).
