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Relationship of age, injury severity, injury type, comorbid conditions, level of care, and survival among older motor vehicle trauma patients
Author(s) -
Scheetz Linda J.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
research in nursing and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1098-240X
pISSN - 0160-6891
DOI - 10.1002/nur.20075
Subject(s) - medicine , injury severity score , logistic regression , trauma center , injury prevention , poison control , comorbidity , emergency medicine , occupational safety and health , major trauma , head injury , physical therapy , retrospective cohort study , medical emergency , surgery , pathology
The purpose of this secondary data analysis was to compare age, injury severity, injury types, selected comorbidities, level of care (at trauma center [TC] and non–trauma center [NTC] hospitals), and survival among older motor vehicle trauma patients ( N = 1,478). Patients admitted to both levels of care had similar comorbid conditions. TC patients had a higher injury severity, whereas NTC patients had a greater proportion of soft tissue injuries. Results of logistic regression analyses subsequent to group comparisons revealed that higher injury severity was associated with TC admission. The likelihood of TC admission of severely injured patients decreased in the presence of spinal, internal, and head injuries. Internal injuries, liver, renal, and cardiovascular diseases were associated with non‐survival while hypertension was associated with survival. Special attention is needed when triaging older trauma patients because their injuries may be covert, thus putting them at risk for admission to a level of care that may be inappropriate given the extent of their injuries. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Res Nurs Health 28: 198–209, 2005