Motorcycle injury and survival: improving outcomes

The aim of this study was to examine all motorcycle accident injuries presenting in Yorkshire, United Kingdom, and to assess the impact of the introduction of a consultant-led trauma team on mortality, 1993-2000. Data were collected on 1239 patients. Factors independently associated with survival by logistic regression were: the presence of abdominal trauma (odds ratio 0.46, 95% confidence interval 0.31 to 0.68), the presence of chest trauma (OR 0.41, 0.29 to 0.6), the presence of head trauma (OR 0.36, 0.30 to 0.45), requirement of a blood transfusion in the emergency room (OR 0.88/unit of blood, 0.72 to 1.07), presence of the trauma team (OR 0.43, 0.16 to 1.03) and the number of years into the program (OR 1.34/year, 1.07 to 1.67). The single factor determining improved survival was the time into the study. This shows that treatment of motorcycle trauma has improved overall with time. We propose that the introduction of uniform treatment protocols and improvements in the general standard of care have had a great effect.