Abstract Background Although involvement of geriatricians in the care of older trauma patients is associated with changes in processes of care and improved outcomes, few geriatrician consultations ...were ordered on our service. Study Design Mandatory geriatric consults were initiated in Sept 2013 for all trauma patients 70 years and older admitted to our hospital. We prospectively collected data on patients admitted from Oct 2013–Sept 2014 (post-intervention) and compared to patients admitted from Jun 2011–Jun 2012 (pre-intervention). We collected data on processes of care (Do Not Resuscitate/ Do Not Intubate (DNR/DNI) status, delirium, referral for cognitive evaluation) and patient outcomes (mortality, readmission, length of stay). Descriptive statistics and post-hoc power analyses were performed. Results There were 215 and 191 patients included in the pre-intervention and post-intervention cohorts respectively. After the intervention, geriatric consults increased from 3.26% to 100%. Patients on DNR/DNI status increased from 10.23% to 38.22% ( P <0.01). Referral for formal cognitive evaluation increased from 2.33% to 14.21% ( P <0.01) and delirium documentation increased from 31.16% to 38.22% ( P= 0.14). In-hospital mortality and 30-day mortality in the pre- and post-intervention periods were 9.30% vs. 5.24% ( P =0.12) and 11.63% vs. 6.81% ( P =0.10) respectively. ICU readmission was 8.26% pre-intervention and 1.96% post-intervention ( P =0.06). There were no changes in 30-day hospital readmission and length of stay. Power analyses showed more patients were needed to show statistically significant outcomes. Conclusions The initiation of mandatory geriatric consults on our trauma service was associated with improved advance care planning and increased multidisciplinary care. Ensuring involvement of geriatricians may aid in reducing adverse outcomes among geriatric trauma patients.
Abstract Background Although high absolute hospital geriatric trauma volume (GTV) is associated with improved outcomes among geriatric trauma patients, the actual geriatric trauma proportion (GTP) ...may be a better predictor of outcomes. Study Design Adult trauma admissions were identified in the California State Inpatient Database, 2007-2011. Hospital characteristics were extracted from the American Hospital Association database. The annual trauma volume of patients 65 years and older (GTV) was calculated. The GTP was derived by dividing the GTV by the overall adult trauma volume and hospitals were categorized into tertiles of GTP. Outcomes were hospital mortality, failure to rescue (FTR) and 30-day readmission in geriatric trauma patients. Independent risk factors were assessed with clustered multivariate logistic regression models adjusted for patient and hospital characteristics. Results There were 61,915 geriatric trauma patients included from 63 trauma centers. Hospital mortality, FTR, and 30-day readmission rates were 4.99%, 16.07% and 12.03% respectively. The adjusted Odds Ratio and 95% Confidence Intervals for in-hospital mortality and FTR per 100 patient increase in GTV were 0.91 (0.83-1.00) and 1.01 (0.90-1.14) respectively. As compared to hospitals in the lowest tertile, adjusted odds of mortality and FTR in the highest tertile were 0.71 (0.54-0.94) and 0.67 (0.48-0.92) respectively. None of the hospital factors measured was significantly associated with readmission. The Wald test revealed that GTP played a larger role than GTV in predicting hospital mortality ( P =0.018 vs. P =0.048) and FTR ( P =0.015 vs. P =0.985). Conclusions Treatment at hospitals with higher GTP is associated with lower hospital mortality and FTR among geriatric patients. These findings suggest that creation of specialized services for geriatric trauma care may improve outcomes among geriatric trauma patients.
Background The association between the need for trauma care and trauma services has not been characterized previously. We compared the distribution of trauma admissions with state-level availability ...of trauma centers (TCs), surgical critical care (SCC) providers, and SCC fellowships, and assessed the association between trauma care provision and state-level trauma mortality. Study Design We obtained 2013 state-level data on trauma admissions, TCs, SCC providers, SCC fellowship positions, per-capita income, population size, and age-adjusted mortality rates. Normalized densities (per million population PMP) were calculated and generalized linear models were used to test associations between provision of trauma services (higher-level TCs, SCC providers, and SCC fellowship positions) and trauma burden, per-capita income, and age-adjusted mortality rates. Results There were 1,345,024 trauma admissions (4,250 PMP), 2,496 SCC providers (7.89 PMP), and 1,987 TCs across the country, of which 521 were Level I or II (1.65 PMP). There was considerable variation between the top 5 and bottom 5 states in terms of Level I/Level II TCs and SCC surgeon availability (approximately 8.0/1.0), despite showing less variation in trauma admission density (1.5/1.0). Distribution of trauma admissions was positively associated with SCC provider density and age-adjusted trauma mortality (p ≤ 0.001), and inversely associated with per-capita income (p < 0.001). Age-adjusted mortality was inversely associated with the number of SCC providers PMP. For every additional SCC provider PMP, there was a decrease of 618 deaths per year. Conclusions There is an inequitable distribution of trauma services across the US. Increases in the density of SCC providers are associated with decreases in mortality. There was no association between density of trauma admissions and location of Level I/Level II TCs. In the wake of efforts to regionalize TCs, additional efforts are needed to address disparities in the provision of quality care to trauma patients.
Abstract Background The “obesity paradox” has been demonstrated in chronic diseases but not in acute surgery. We sought to determine whether obesity is associated with improved outcomes in patients ...with severe soft tissue infections (SSTIs). Methods The 2006-2010 Nationwide Inpatient Sample was used to identify adult patients with SSTIs. Patients were categorized into non-obese and obese (non-morbid BMI 30-39.9 and morbid BMI > 40). Logistic regression provided risk-adjusted association between obesity categories and in-hospital mortality. Results There were 2,868 records with SSTI weighted to represent 14,080 patients. Obese patients were less likely to die in hospital than non-obese patients (odds ratio OR=0.42, 95% confidence interval CI 0.25-0.70; p=0.001). Subanalysis revealed a similar trend, with lower odds of mortality in non-morbid obesity (OR=0.46, CI 0.23-0.91; p=0.025) and morbid obesity (OR=0.39, CI 0.19-0.80; p=0.011) groups. Conclusion Obesity is independently associated with reduced in-hospital mortality in patients with SSTI regardless of the obesity classification. This suggests that the obesity paradox exists in this acute surgical population.
Abstract Background It is unknown whether hospital characteristics affect institutional performance with regard to organ donation. We sought to determine which hospital- and patient-level ...characteristics are associated with high organ donor conversion rates after brain death (DBD). Methods Data were extracted from the regional Organ Procurement Organization (2011–2014) and other sources. Hospitals were stratified into high-conversion hospitals (HCH; upper-tertile) and low-conversion hospitals (LCH; lower-tertile) according to conversion rates. Hospital- and patient-characteristics were compared between groups. Results There were 564 potential DBD donors in 27 hospitals. Conversion rates differed between hospitals in different states (p < 0.001). HCH were more likely to be small (median bed size 194 vs. 337; p = 0.024), non-teaching hospitals (40% vs. 88%; p = 0.025), non-trauma center (30% vs. 77%; p = 0.040). Potential donors differed between HCH and LCH in race (p < 0.01) and mechanism of injury/disease process (p < 0.01). Conclusion There is significant variation between hospitals in terms of organ donor conversion rates. This suggests that there is a pool of potential donors in large specialized hospitals that are not successfully converted to DBD.
Abstract Background Designated trauma centers improve outcomes for severely injured patients. However, major trauma workload can disrupt other care pathways and some patient groups may compete ...ineffectively for resources with higher priority trauma cases. This study tested the hypothesis that treatment at a higher-level trauma center is an independent predictor for worse outcome after appendectomy. Methods An observational study was undertaken using an all-payer longitudinal data set (California State Inpatient Database 2007–2011). All patients with an ICD-90-CM diagnosis of “acute appendicitis” (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification code 540) that subsequently underwent appendectomy were included. Patients transferred between hospitals were excluded to minimize selection bias. The outcome measures were days to the operating room, length of stay, unplanned 30-d readmission (to any hospital in California), and in-hospital mortality. Logistic and generalized linear regression models were used to adjust for patient- (age, sex, payer status, race, Charlson comorbidity index, weekend admission, and generalized peritonitis) and hospital-level (teaching status and bed size) factors. Results There were 119,601 patients treated in 278 individual hospitals. Patients in level I trauma centers (L1TCs) reached the operating room later (predicted mean difference 0.25 d 95% confidence interval 0.14–0.36), stayed in hospital longer (0.83 d 0.36–1.31), and had higher adjusted odds of generalized peritonitis (odds ratio 1.63 95% confidence interval 1.13–2.36) than those in nontrauma centers. There were no differences in mortality or unplanned 30-d readmissions to hospital; or between level II trauma centers and nontrauma centers across any of the measured outcomes. Conclusions Odds of generalized peritonitis are higher and hospital length of stay is longer in L1TCs, although we found no evidence that patients come to serious harm in such institutions. Further work is necessary to determine whether pressure for resources in L1TCs can explain these findings.
Background The association between functional status in trauma survivors and long-term outcomes is unknown. Methods We performed an observational cohort study on adult trauma patients (≥18 years), ...who required admission to the intensive care unit and who survived hospitalization between 1997 and 2011. The exposure of interest was a functional status defined as bed mobility, transfers, and gait level assessed at the time of hospital discharge. Adjusted odds ratios were estimated by multivariable logistic regression models. The primary outcome was all-cause, postdischarge mortality. Results We analyzed 3,565 patients with a mean (standard deviation) age of 55 (12.4) years; 60% were male, and 78% were white. The 720-day postdischarge mortality was 22.8%. In a logistic regression model, the lowest functional status category at hospital discharge was associated with 4-fold increased odds of 720-day postdischarge mortality (adjusted odds ratio 4.06 (95% confidence interval, 2.65–6.20, P < .001) compared with patients with independent functional status. We compared the odds of 720-day postdischarge mortality in patients with independent functional status and in patients in the lowest functional status category at hospital discharge. The odds of 720-day postdischarge mortality were stronger in older adults (≥65 years: adjusted odds ratio 3.34 95% confidence interval, 1.72–6.50, P < .001) than in younger adults (<65 years: adjusted odds ratio 2.53 95% confidence interval, 1.39–4.60, P = .002). Finally, improvement of functional status prior to discharge was associated with a 52% decrease in the odds of 720-day postdischarge mortality (adjusted odds ratio 0.48; 95% confidence interval, 0.30–0.75; P < .001) compared with patients without a change in functional status prior to discharge. Conclusion In trauma intensive care unit survivors, functional status at hospital discharge is predictive of long-term mortality.
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