1. Pediatric trauma mortality in India and the United States: A comparison and risk-adjusted analysis.
- Author
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Amato, Stas, Culbreath, Katherine, Dunne, Emma, Sarathy, Ashwini, Siroonian, Olivia, Sartorelli, Kennith, Roy, Nobhojit, and Malhotra, Ajai
- Abstract
• What is currently known about this topic?. • Trauma is a leading cause of pediatric mortality worldwide. Comparisons among international trauma systems are limited. • What new information is contained in this article?. • Risk-adjusted odds of pediatric injury mortality in India are over 22 times that of the US, with relative odds highest among less severely injured children. These findings suggest that targeted, low-fidelity interventions could substantially improve outcomes. There is a paucity of research comparing pediatric risk-adjusted trauma mortality between high-income and low- and middle-income countries. This limits identification of populations and injury patterns for targeted interventions. We aim to compare independent predictors of pediatric trauma mortality between India and the United States (US). A retrospective cohort study was conducted for pediatric patients (age <18 years) in India's Towards Improved Trauma Care Outcomes (TITCO) project database and the US National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) from 2013 to 2015. Demographic, injury, physiologic, anatomic and outcome data were analyzed. Multivariable regressions were used to determine independent predictors of mortality. 126,678 pediatric trauma patients were included (India 3,373; US 123,305). Pediatric patients in India were on average significantly younger, with a higher median injury severity score (ISS), had lower systolic blood pressure, and suffered a higher case fatality rate (13.0% vs. 1.0%). When controlling for demographic, mechanism, physiologic, and anatomic injury characteristics, sustaining an injury in India was the strongest predictor of mortality (OR 22.70, 95% CI 18.70–27.56). On subgroup analysis, the highest relative odds of mortality in India was seen in children with lower injury and physiologic severity. Risk-adjusted pediatric trauma-related mortality is significantly higher in India compared to the US. The comparative odds of mortality are highest among children with lower injury and physiologic severity. This suggests that low-cost targeted interventions focused on standard timely trauma care, protocols, training and early imaging could improve pediatric injury mortality in India. Retrospective Prognosis Study II [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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