Traumatic injury and children: a national assessment.

Before beginning a study of trauma care for children, it is necessary to understand contemporary injury patterns of children, specifically the volume and types of injury, injury severity, and institutions where children are hospitalized for trauma. This article was designed to address these issues using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) Kids' Inpatient Database (KID) 2003 that contains over 7 million discharge records from hospitalized children in the United States. Our classification of hospitals into pediatric experience and trauma experience are a first step in better defining what hospital characteristics are important to the optimal care of an injured child. In an era of limited resources, we would like to assure that the right child received the right treatment at the right place.

State trauma registries: survey and update-2004.

BACKGROUND: This study was undertaken to assess the current status of statewide trauma registries to facilitate a design and plans for a National Trauma Registry for Children. METHODS: A telephone survey was administered to state EMS or state trauma registry managers. Summary data for each state was compiled and state EMS or trauma registry managers reviewed the information for accuracy. Survey findings were compared with findings from a similar survey conducted in 1992. RESULTS: Thirty-two states reported an active state trauma registry, an increase of seven states since 1992. Thirteen additional states and the District of Columbia are discussing or planning the development of a state trauma registry. One state had a registry but hospitals were not submitting data at the time of this survey. Only four states have no plans to develop a trauma registry. Twenty-nine states with registries require all hospitals to submit data; 15 of these obtain data from trauma centers only. The most commonly reported uses for trauma registry data include advocacy, injury surveillance, education and training, and research. The least commonly reported use is for reimbursement analysis. CONCLUSION: Since 1992, progress has been made in developing state trauma registries. Although the concept of a national trauma registry data collection based upon 45 existing state registries, as well as from the District of Columbia, is appealing, concerns about data comparability require resolution. Furthermore, additional work would be required to create a representative sample from which national estimates of injury or outcome could be based.

Endothelium-derived microparticles induce endothelial dysfunction and acute lung injury.

Acute lung injury (ALI) carries a high mortality in critically ill patients. Recent reports correlate elevated concentrations of endothelium-derived microparticles (EMPs) with diseases of endothelial dysfunction. Many of these diseases have ALI sequelae. We hypothesize that EMPs contribute to endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction and development of ALI. To test this hypothesis, we treated isolated vessels with EMPs and examined changes in vasodilation. Endothelial cell cultures were incubated with EMPs and examined for changes in stimulated nitric oxide (*NO) production and nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) activation. Finally, EMPs were injected into rats and mice and lungs examined for ALI. In both mouse and human ex vivo vessel preparations, we found a marked attenuation of endothelium-mediated vasodilation after EMP treatment (4 x 10(6)/mL). This dysfunction was not corrected by pretreatment of EMPs with free radical scavengers. Coincubation of EMPs with EC cultures yielded a three-fold reduction in A23187-stimulated *NO release. Western analysis of these cells showed a corresponding decrease in eNOS phosphorylation at Ser1179 and a decrease in hsp90 association. Measurements of lung permeability, myeloperoxidase activity, and histology of EMPs-treated Brown Norway rats demonstrated pulmonary edema, neutrophil recruitment, and compromise of the endothelial-alveolar barrier as a second hit phenomenon. In C57BL/6 mice, exogenous EMPs caused a significant rise in pulmonary capillary permeability both as a primary and secondary injury. These findings demonstrate EMPs are capable of inducing significant lung injury at pathophysiologically relevant concentrations. Endothelium-derived microparticles inhibit endothelium-mediated vasodilation and *NO generation from eNOS. Once elucidated, EMP mechanisms of inducing ALI and endothelial dysfunction may present new therapeutic targets.

Outcomes and delivery of care in pediatric injury.

PURPOSE: To design effective pediatric trauma care delivery systems, it is important to correlate site of care with corresponding outcomes. Using a multistate administrative database, we describe recent patient allocation and outcomes in pediatric injury. METHODS: The 2000 Kids' Inpatient Database, containing 2,516,833 inpatient discharge records from 27 states, was filtered by E-code to yield pediatric injury cases. Injury Severity Scores (ISSs) were derived for each discharge using ICDMAP-90 (Tri-Analytics, Inc, Forest Hill, MD). After weighting to estimate national trends, cases were grouped by age (0-10, >10-20 years), ISS (< or =15, >15), and National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions-designated site of care. Measured outcomes included mortality, length of stay, and total charges. Analysis was completed using Student's t test and chi2. RESULTS: Among 79,673 injury cases, mean age was 12.2 +/- 6.2 years and ISS was 7.4 +/- 7.6. Eighty-nine percent of injured children received care outside of children's hospitals. In the subgroup of patients aged 0 to 10 years with ISS of greater than 15, the mean ISS for adult hospitals and children's hospitals was not significantly different (18.9 +/- 9.1 vs. 19.4 +/- 9.3, P = .08). However, in-hospital mortality, length of stay, and charges were all significantly higher in adult hospitals (P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS: Younger and more seriously injured children have improved outcomes in children's hospitals. Appropriate triage may improve outcomes in pediatric trauma.

Variation in treatment of pediatric spleen injury at trauma centers versus nontrauma centers: a call for dissemination of American Pediatric Surgical Association benchmarks and guidelines.

BACKGROUND: American Pediatric Surgical Association consensus guidelines for children with blunt spleen injuries have been defined and validated in children's hospitals, but large administrative data sets indicate that only 10% to 15% of children with blunt spleen injuries are treated at children's hospitals. We sought to identify the frequency and compare the treatment of children with spleen injury in hospitals with and without recognized trauma expertise, with the aim of identifying a meaningful target for dissemination of benchmarks and consensus guidelines. STUDY DESIGN: State health departments' administrative data sets from California, Florida, New Jersey, and New York were analyzed for 2000, 2001, and 2002. All children with head injury or other nonspleen abdominal injuries requiring surgery were excluded. Injury Severity Scores were determined by ICDMAP-90. RESULTS: There were 3,232 patients with blunt spleen injury. Trauma centers had a significantly lower rate of operation for both multiply injured patients (15.3% versus 19.3%, p < 0.001) and those with isolated injury (9.2% versus 18.5%, p < 0.0001) when compared with nontrauma centers. The operative rates at both trauma centers and nontrauma centers exceed published American Pediatric Surgical Association benchmarks for all children with spleen injury (5% to 11%) and the subset with isolated spleen injury (0% to 3%). Independent risk factors for splenectomy included ages 15 to 19 years (p < 0.002), spleen injury severity (p < 0.0001), and presence of multiple injuries (p < 0.04). Adjusted odds ratio for risk of splenic operation in all patients with spleen injury was 2.122 (95% CI:1.455- 3.096) when treated at a nontrauma center (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: These multistate discharge data indicate that treatment of children with blunt spleen injury differs significantly when comparing trauma centers and nontrauma centers. Because nearly two-thirds of these children were treated at trauma centers, dissemination of American Pediatric Surgical Association guidelines and benchmarks through state or regional trauma systems may reduce the number of children having operations for splenic injury.

Pediatric pelvic injury: functional outcome at 6-month follow-up.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Data on functional outcomes after pediatric pelvic fractures are limited to those obtained at hospital discharge. This study assesses functional status at both hospital discharge and at 6 months after injury. METHODS: A national multicenter prospective study began in February 2002 and is ongoing. Patients completed WeeFIM functional assessments at hospital discharge and at 6-month follow-up as part of this study. This report summarizes preliminary functional assessment results from 20 patients. RESULTS: Patient data were accrued into 3 domains (self-care, mobility, and cognition), which constitute a total raw rating. Significant improvement at 6 months after injury was evident in self-care, mobility, and total raw ratings. This significance remained when total raw ratings were converted to age-adjusted functional quotients. CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary assessment shows that after pelvic fractures, children improve their functional status at 6 months, returning to near-normal status.

Bariatric surgery for severely overweight adolescents: concerns and recommendations.

As the prevalence of obesity and obesity-related disease among adolescents in the United States continues to increase, physicians are increasingly faced with the dilemma of determining the best treatment strategies for affected patients. This report offers an approach for the evaluation of adolescent patients' candidacy for bariatric surgery. In addition to anthropometric measurements and comorbidity assessments, a number of unique factors must be critically assessed among overweight youths. In an effort to reduce the risk of adverse medical and psychosocial outcomes and increase compliance and follow-up monitoring after bariatric surgery, principles of adolescent growth and development, the decisional capacity of the patient, family structure, and barriers to adherence must be considered. Consideration for bariatric surgery is generally warranted only when adolescents have experienced failure of 6 months of organized weight loss attempts and have met certain anthropometric, medical, and psychologic criteria. Adolescent candidates for bariatric surgery should be very severely obese (defined by the World Health Organization as a body mass index of > or =40), have attained a majority of skeletal maturity (generally > or =13 years of age for girls and > or =15 years of age for boys), and have comorbidities related to obesity that might be remedied with durable weight loss. Potential candidates for bariatric surgery should be referred to centers with multidisciplinary weight management teams that have expertise in meeting the unique needs of overweight adolescents. Surgery should be performed in institutions that are equipped to meet the tertiary care needs of severely obese patients and to collect long-term data on the clinical outcomes of these patients.

Hypoxia-induced acute lung injury in murine models of sickle cell disease.

Vaso-occlusive events are the major source of morbidity and mortality in sickle cell disease (SCD); however, the pathogenic mechanisms driving these events remain unclear. Using hypoxia to induce pulmonary injury, we investigated mechanisms by which sickle hemoglobin increases susceptibility to lung injury in a murine model of SCD, where mice either exclusively express the human alpha/sickle beta-globin (halphabetaS) transgene (SCD mice) or are heterozygous for the normal murine beta-globin gene and express the halphabetaS transgene (mbeta+/-, halphabetaS+/-; heterozygote SCD mice). Under normoxia, lungs from the SCD mice contained higher levels of xanthine oxidase (XO), nitrotyrosine, and cGMP than controls (C57BL/6 mice). Hypoxia increased XO and nitrotyrosine and decreased cGMP content in the lungs of all mice. After hypoxia, vascular congestion was increased in lungs with a greater content of XO and nitrotyrosine. Under normoxia, the association of heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) with endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in lungs of SCD and heterozygote SCD mice was decreased compared with the levels of association in lungs of controls. Hypoxia further decreased association of HSP90 with eNOS in lungs of SCD and heterozygote SCD mice, but not in the control lungs. Pretreatment of rat pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells in vitro with xanthine/XO decreased A-23187-stimulated nitrite + nitrate production and HSP90 interactions with eNOS. These data support the hypotheses that hypoxia increases XO release from ischemic tissues and that the local increase in XO-induced oxidative stress can then inhibit HSP90 interactions with eNOS, decreasing *NO generation and predisposing the lung to vaso-occlusion.