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Helicopter Transport of Trauma Patients Improves Survival Irrespective of Transport Time
Helicopter Transport of Trauma Patients Improves Survival Irrespective of Transport Time
- Source :
- The American Surgeon. 87:538-542
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- SAGE Publications, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Objectives Helicopter transport of trauma patients remains controversial. We examined the survival rates of patients undergoing helicopter versus ground transport to a Level 1 trauma center. Methods Retrospective analysis was performed on trauma patients treated between 2014 and 2017. Student’s t-test was used to compare air versus ground transport times. A logistic regression was then used to examine the association of transportation type on survival controlling for demographics, mechanism of injury, transport time, field intubation, and injury severity. Results Of 3967 patients identified, 69.6% (2762) were male, and the average age was 40 years. Most patients suffered blunt injuries (86.8%, 3445), while the remaining had penetrating injuries (11.6%, 459) or burns (1.6%, 63). The majority of patients were transferred by ground (3449) with only 13% (518) transferred by air. Patients transported by air had increased Injury Severity Score (ISS) with a median of 17 (IQR 9-24) versus 9 (IQR 5-14), increased length of stay (LOS) at 6 days versus 3 ( P < .001), and increased mortality at 12.6% vs 6.5% ( P < .001). Patients transported by air arrived 16.6 ± 6.7 minutes faster compared with ground for the zip codes examined. When adjusting for the mechanism of injury, ISS, age, gender, intubation status, and transport time, air transport was associated with an increased likelihood of survival (odds ratio [OR] = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.06-2.40). Conclusion In our analysis of 3967 patients, those transported by air had a significant improvement in the likelihood of survival compared with those transported by ground even when adjusting for both ISS and time.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Male
medicine.medical_specialty
Time Factors
business.industry
Ambulances
Transport time
030208 emergency & critical care medicine
Air Ambulances
General Medicine
Middle Aged
Survival Rate
03 medical and health sciences
Injury Severity Score
0302 clinical medicine
Emergency medicine
Humans
Wounds and Injuries
Medicine
Female
030212 general & internal medicine
business
Retrospective Studies
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15559823 and 00031348
- Volume :
- 87
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The American Surgeon
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....a383d771859f92c3c5cd19caacab19ac
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0003134820943564