Comparison of clinical characteristics, mechanism of injury, injury diagnoses, and rates of surgical intervention for injured patients dying at trauma versus non–trauma centres
| Characteristic | No. (%) of patients* | Standardized difference† | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All in-hospital n = 5319 | Trauma centre n = 2761 | Non–trauma centre n = 2558 | ||
| Demographics | ||||
| Female | 1431 (26.9) | 735 (26.6) | 696 (27.2) | < 0.1 |
| Age, yr, median (IQR) | 49 (26–71) | 51 (27–72) | 48 (26–69) | 0.1 |
| Rural residence | 1050 (19.7) | 445 (16.1) | 605 (23.7) | 0.2 |
| Elixhauser Comorbidity Index score, median (range) | 1 (0–2) | 0 (0–2) | 1 (0–2) | 0.3 |
| Mechanism of injury | ||||
| Motor vehicle collision (all types) | 3792 (71.3) | 1945 (70.4) | 1847 (72.2) | < 0.1 |
| Fall | 651 (12.2) | 372 (13.5) | 279 (10.9) | 0.1 |
| Gunshot wound | 380 (7.1) | 207 (7.5) | 173 (6.8) | < 0.1 |
| Stabbing | 280 (5.3) | 113 (4.1) | 167 (6.5) | 0.1 |
| Person struck‡ | 216 (4.1) | 124 (4.5) | 92 (3.6) | 0.1 |
| Injury diagnoses | ||||
| Traumatic brain§ | 2252 (42.3) | 1394 (50.5) | 858 (33.5) | 0.4 |
| Multiple body-system | 2170 (40.8) | 1056 (38.2) | 1114 (43.5) | 0.1 |
| Thoracic | 992 (18.7) | 346 (12.5) | 646 (25.3) | 0.3 |
| Abdomen, lower back, lumbar spine and pelvis | 453 (8.5) | 227 (8.2) | 226 (8.8) | < 0.1 |
| Neck and cervical spine | 359 (6.7) | 176 (6.4) | 183 (7.2) | < 0.1 |
| Limb | 161 (3.0) | 75 (2.7) | 86 (3.4) | < 0.1 |
| Complications and sequalae of injuries | 107 (2.0) | 40 (1.4) | 67 (2.6) | 0.1 |
| Surgical interventions | ||||
| Any surgical | 963 (18.1) | 851 (30.8) | 112 (4.4) | 0.6 |
| Neurosurgical | 434 (8.2) | 406 (14.7) | 28 (1.1) | 0.4 |
| General surgical | 305 (5.7) | 269 (9.7) | 36 (1.4) | 0.1 |
| Cardiothoracic | 202 (3.8) | 156 (5.7) | 46 (1.8) | 0.5 |
| Orthopedic surgery | 174 (3.3) | 163 (5.9) | 11 (0.4) | 0.2 |