The public health burden of geriatric trauma: Analysis of 2,688,008 hospitalizations from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services inpatient claims.

BACKGROUND: Geriatric trauma care (GTC) represents an increasing proportion of injury care, but associated public health research on outcomes and expenditures is limited. The purpose of this study was to describe GTC characteristics, location, diagnoses, and expenditures. METHODS: Patients at short-term nonfederal hospitals, 65 years or older, with ≥1 injury International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, were selected from 2016 to 2019 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Inpatient Standard Analytical Files. Trauma center levels were linked to Inpatient Standard Analytical Files data via American Hospital Association Hospital ID and fuzzy string matching. Demographics, care location, diagnoses, and expenditures were compared across groups. RESULTS: A total of 2,688,008 hospitalizations (62% female; 90% White; 71% falls; mean Injury Severity Score, 6.5) from 3,286 hospitals were included, comprising 8.5% of all Medicare inpatient hospitalizations. Level I centers encompassed 7.2% of the institutions (n = 236) but 21.2% of hospitalizations, while nontrauma centers represented 58.5% of institutions (n = 1,923) and 37.7% of hospitalizations. Compared with nontrauma centers, patients at Level I centers had higher Elixhauser scores (9.0 vs. 8.8) and Injury Severity Score (7.4 vs. 6.0; p < 0.0001). The most frequent primary diagnosis at all centers was hip/femur fracture (28.3%), followed by traumatic brain injury (10.1%). Expenditures totaled $32.9 billion for trauma-related hospitalizations, or 9.1% of total Medicare hospitalization expenditures and approximately 1.1% of the annual Medicare budget. The overall mortality rate was 3.5%. CONCLUSION: Geriatric trauma care accounts for 8.5% of all inpatient GTC and a similar percentage of expenditures, the most common injury being hip/femur fractures. The largest proportion of GTC occurs at nontrauma centers, emphasizing their vital role in trauma care. Public health prevention programs and GTC guidelines should be implemented by all hospitals, not just trauma centers. Further research is required to determine the optimal role of trauma systems in GTC, establish data-driven triage guidelines, and define the impact of trauma centers and nontrauma centers on GTC mortality. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic/care management, Level III.

The effect of epidural placement in patients after blunt thoracic trauma.

BACKGROUND: In studies of trauma patients with rib fractures, conclusions on the benefits derived from epidural analgesia are inconsistent. The purpose of this study was to further evaluate placement and efficacy of epidural analgesia nationwide. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of prospectively gathered data from the National Study on Cost and Outcomes of Trauma database, a multisite prospective study of injured patients aged 18 years to 84 years. Patients were treated at 69 participating hospitals (18 Level I trauma centers and 51 nontrauma centers) across the United States. Our analysis was limited to patients with a blunt mechanism of injury and a thoracic maximum Abbreviated Injury Scale (MAXAIS) score of 2 or greater. Excluded were patients who were not potential candidates for epidural placement, such as patients with significant head and spine injuries (head MAXAIS score > 2 or spine MAXAIS score > 2), significant neurologic impairment (best motor Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score < 4), unstable pelvic fractures, coagulopathy, or those who died within 48 hours. RESULTS: The National Study on Cost and Outcomes of Trauma database contains 5,043 patients, of whom 836 (16.5%) were identified as potential candidates for epidural placement. Of patients included in the study, 100 patients (12%) had epidural catheters placed. The likelihood of epidural catheter placement was significantly higher in trauma centers as compared with nontrauma centers (adjusted odds ratio, 3.06; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.80-5.22). In the epidural group compared with those not receiving a catheter, the adjusted (including trauma center status) odds of death in patients with three or more rib fractures at 30, 90, and 365 days was 0.08 (95% CI, 0.01-0.43), 0.09 (95% CI, 0.02-0.42), and 0.12 (95% CI, 0.04-0.42), respectively. CONCLUSION: Trauma centers are more likely to place epidural catheter in patients with rib fractures. In this multicenter study, epidural catheter placement was associated with a significantly decreased risk of dying in patients with blunt thoracic injury of three or more rib fractures. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic study, level II.

Compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention field triage guidelines in an established trauma system.

BACKGROUND: Regionalization of trauma care reduces mortality and has clear guidelines for transport to the highest level of trauma care. Whether prehospital providers follow the CDC triage algorithm remains to be determined. STUDY DESIGN: We performed a 5-year retrospective cohort analysis of linked data from Washington State's Central Region Trauma Registry (CRTR) and King County Emergency Medical Services (KCEMS). Patients were analyzed based on transport to their designated hospital, as determined by geocode mapping, or directly to the level I center (no level II center is available in this region). RESULTS: Of the 12,106 patients in the study, 5,976 (49.4%) were transported directly to a level I center from the scene. Of the remaining 6,130 patients initially transported to level III to V centers, 5,024 (41.5%) remained in the respective level III to V centers and 1,106 (9.1%) were transferred to the level I center. Patients transported directly to a level I center were more likely to be male, younger, have a penetrating injury, lower scene Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), lower scene blood pressure, and be more severely injured. Level I direct scene transport was significantly less likely for older patients. Compared with patients ages 18 to 45, the adjusted odds ratio for direct transport to the level I center was 0.7 (95% CI 0.59 to 0.83) for patients aged 46 to 55 years; 0.47 (95% CI 0.39 to 0.57) for those 56 to 65 years; 0.28 (95% CI 0.23 to 0.34) for patients 66 to 80 years; and 0.11 (95% CI 0.09 to 0.14) for those older than 81 years. CONCLUSIONS: Prehospital providers follow physiologic, anatomic, and mechanistic parameters in steps 1 to 3 of the CDC field triage guidelines. However, contrary to the special considerations guideline in step 4, older age was associated with transport to the lower level of trauma care in our region.