Poor Outcomes of Patients From Delayed Care After Ground Level Falls.

BACKGROUND: Ground level falls are a common cause of morbidity and mortality in trauma patients. Delayed presentation in many conditions has been proven to lead to worsened outcomes. Currently, there are limited data on outcomes of those who have a delayed presentation after a ground level fall. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was a retrospective analysis of the Trauma Registry at our center. Any adult patient who presented after a ground level fall was grouped based on their time to presentation post-injury: less than or greater than 24 h. Age, gender, hospital length of stay (LOS), intensive care unit (ICU) LOS, mechanical ventilation days, Injury Severity Score, and mortality were patient characteristics gathered. A Student's t-test and Chi-squared testing were utilized to determine the presence of significant differences between the groups. Significance was set at P < .05. RESULTS: Two hundred of 4018 patients had delayed presentation. Those with delayed presentation were more likely to be male (P = .028), younger in age (71 vs 74 years old, P < .01), had greater hospital LOS (6 vs. 5, P < .01), ICU LOS (5 vs. 3, P < .01), and mechanical ventilation days (13 vs. 5 days, P < .01). They also had higher ISS (8 vs. 7, P < .01), and mortality was significantly higher in those who presented after 24 h (P = .034). CONCLUSION: Patients with delayed presentation after a ground level fall have worsened Injury Severity Scores and outcomes to include hospital and ICU LOS, ventilator days, and overall mortality.