Association between facial fractures and long-term mental health

  • Gabrielle Kang-Auger is a master's student in epidemiology at McGill University. She received her MD from the Université de Montréal. Through her medical rotations, she discovered an interest in both psychiatry and surgery. She plans to begin a surgical residency and focus on the mental health needs of surgical patients. She completed a research project on the mental health of burn patients, and her thesis project focuses on the mental health of patients with facial fractures.

Facial fractures are common and have the potential to impact mental health. Facial fractures have significant consequences for appearance and function (eating, breathing, communication, vision). Many facial fractures are the result of interpersonal violence, a context in which patients' mental health may already be vulnerable. A few studies have demonstrated high rates of depression, stress, and anxiety after a facial fracture. However, these studies are limited to the short term and do not explore other mental health outcomes.

The objective of this project is to assess the association between facial fractures and subsequent mental health hospitalizations. This is a cohort study of 64,089 patients hospitalized for facial fractures in Quebec between 1989 and 2023. These patients will be followed up to 34 years after the fracture to identify hospitalizations for a psychiatric disorder (depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, eating disorder, psychosis), a substance use disorder (alcohol, opioid, cocaine, cannabis), or a suicide attempt. Using a comparison group without fractures, hazard ratios and their 95% confidence intervals will be estimated using Cox regression models.

This project is co-funded in partnership with Fonds de Recherche Québec - Santé.