Transfer status may not be associated with worse outcomes in elderly trauma patients

To compare outcomes of elderly patients who arrive directly to a lead trauma centre to those who are transferred from a peripheral hospital.

This study used a retrospective cohort design and data obtained from the local trauma registry. The study population was patients 65 years and older who presented with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 12 or greater, or for whom the trauma team was activated, over a 10-year period. Patients were excluded from the study if they arrived direct from the scene and died within 3 hours of arrival, they were found to have no injuries, or they were directly admitted more than 2 days from the time of injury. Following the use of multiple imputation, multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between in-hospital mortality and directness of transport, while adjusting for potentially confounding variables.

Of the 1619 patients included in the analyses over half (54.2%) were transported directly from the scene of injury to the lead trauma hospital (LTH). The remaining 45.8% initially presented to a non-tertiary hospital and were later transferred to the LTH. Crude mortality was 18.7% in the direct group and 14.0% in the transfer group (p = 0.015). The unadjusted odds of death for patients arriving to LTH by referral was 0.71 (95% confidence interval, 0.54, 0.93), compared to patients arriving to the LTH directly. After adjustment for age, ISS, presence of severe head injury, Charlson Comorbidity Index, shock, initial GCS, and ICU admission from the emergency department, the mortality risk did not differ significantly for transferred patients compared to those arriving directly (OR = 0.77 (95% confidence interval, 0.54, 1.09).

There was no significant difference in in-hospital mortality between elderly patients transported directly to the trauma centre and those who were transferred from peripheral hospitals.