Inter-observer variability of the traffic rate system (law 35/2015) and utility of biomechanical tests in the assessment of sequels

Abstract

Introduction

Law 35/2015 assesses damages in traffic accidents and tries to guarantee an equal response to identical situations. The biomechanical functional assessment (BFA) is a complementary medical test that provides objectivity in the evaluation of post-traumatic neck pain. This study analyses the interobserver variability of the assessment system defined by Law 35/2015 and studies the effect of having BFA tests and the profile of the evaluator in determining sequelae.

Materials and methods

To do this, 49 professionals in the assessment of bodily injury evaluated 5 clinical cases of accident victims with post-traumatic neck pain; a month later, 35 of them assessed the same cases including a BFA report.

Results

The results show high variability in determining the days of personal injury (Kappa coefficients between 0.04 and 0.073) with or without BFA; high interobserver variability in the assessment of sequelae in cases without BFA (Kappa coefficients between 0.022 and 0.044), which slightly improves with BFA (Kappa coefficients between 0.128 and 0.26), even showing weak concordance. The BFA has an influence on the determination of sequelae (P < .01), but the profile of the evaluator does not. More than 79.4% of the evaluators found the BFA tests useful to reveal or to confirm symptoms, recovery, or simulation

Conclusions

There is variability in the application of Law 35/2015 for the assessment of traffic accidents among professionals of bodily injury. The BFA is useful for evaluators and influences the determination of sequelae.