Long term outcome of blunt trauma care in the elderly

Ninety-four consecutive elderly patients with blunt trauma injuries were studied to determine what impact advanced age had on patient outcome. The current study included patients ranging from 65 to 100 years of age who were admitted to our service from July 1986 to December 1988. Follow-up evaluation was conducted on all patients one to three years after the patient was discharged from the hospital. Seventy-six of the patients were injured as a result of automobile related accidents and 18 were injured as a result of a fall. Fifty-six of the 94 patients required admission to the intensive care unit. There was an average of 3.4 operations per patient in this group. Twelve of the 94 patients died; six within the first 48 hours of hospitalization. More than 70 percent of the survivors were able to function independently after discharge from the hospital. Twelve of the 22 patients who required institutional care after discharge from the hospital were eventually able to return home. A prolonged stay in intensive care was not associated with an unfavorable long term outlook. This high hospital survival rate (87 percent) and percentage of patients living independently at home after hospitalization (87 percent) suggests that the expenditure of extensive resources for the care of the elderly trauma patient is worthwhile.