DISASTER & MILITARY SURGERY Functional outcome and quality of life in victims of terrorist explosions as compared to conventional trauma D. Serralta-Colsa • C. Camarero-Mulas • A. M. Garcı ´a-Marı ´n • J. Martin-Gil • E. Espan ˜ a-Chamorro • F. Turegano-Fuentes Received: 7 September 2009 / Accepted: 30 January 2010 / Published online: 20 April 2010 Ó Urban & Vogel 2010 Abstract Background Following trauma, the number of prevent- able deaths is low. Outcome should also be measured in terms of quality of life (QoL). Studies analyzing QoL in trauma patients have been published, but little is known about the long term QoL of victims of terrorist attacks. Methods This is a case–control study of casualties of the March 11, 2004 attacks in Madrid. Patients treated for other trauma with similar age and Injury Severity Score (ISS), served as controls. Patients were assessed using the POLO-Chart (VAS, SF-36 and TOP). Results Fifty-eight patients were included, 32 casualties admitted following the March 11, 2004 attacks and 26 controls. Both groups were comparable in age (aver- age = 37), ISS (average = 23) and time from trauma (average = 1,770 days). Subjects demonstrated lower scores for the VAS, and the SF-36 clusters social func- tioning, role emotional and mental health. There was a tendency towards higher prevalence of symptoms associ- ated to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in subjects (p = 0.056). Subjects suffered from higher residual pain in the head region (p = 0.032). Strong association was found between the presence of symptoms associated to depres- sion, anxiety and PTSD and worse QoL (p \ 0.001). Conclusion Subjects present more emotional distortions, residual pain in the head region and a tendency towards a worsened perception of their own health and wellness. They also present symptoms associated to PTSD more frequently. The presence of symptoms associated to PTSD, depression or anxiety was an independent variable related to lower QoL in both groups. Keywords QoL Á Terrorist Á Trauma Á Quality management Á Quality life Introduction Beyond survival statistics, evaluation of quality of life (QoL) associated to the suffering or treatment of a partic- ular condition is a valuable instrument in auditing patient well being. To achieve this goal, various QoL evaluation methods have been developed, both general and, more recently, condition-specific. In trauma patients, the main outcome analyzed is the number of preventable deaths. This number is relatively low and the potential for improvement is small [1]. It more informative to monitor not only survival, but the quality of the survival. Several QoL instruments have been developed for trauma patients. Recently, The working group ‘‘Poly- trauma’’ of the German Society for Trauma Surgery This paper was presented as an oral communication in the 10th European Congress of Trauma and Emergency Surgery, Antalya, Turkey, 13–17 May 2009. D. Serralta-Colsa Department of General and Abdominal Surgery, Hospital Infanta Leonor, Madrid, Spain C. Camarero-Mulas Á A. M. Garcı ´a-Marı ´n Á J. Martin-Gil Á F. Turegano-Fuentes Department of General and Abdominal Surgery 2, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Maran ˜on, Madrid, Spain E. Espan ˜a-Chamorro Department of Clinical Psychology, Instituto Pere Mata, Tarragona, Spain D. Serralta-Colsa (&) C/General Diaz Porlier, 16. 38B. 28.001, Madrid, Spain e-mail: lallamaquellama79@hotmail.com Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg (2011) 37:31–36 DOI 10.1007/s00068-010-0020-2