ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the high risk factors related to acute respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS) following serious thoracoabdominal injuries.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical data of 282 patients with serious thoracoabdominal injuries were retrospectively studied. Univariate and Cox multivariate regression analysis were used to determine the risk factors related to ARDS following serious thoracoabdominal injuries.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The incidence of ARDS was 31.9% (90/282) in patients with serious thoracoabdominal injuries. The mortality caused by ARDS was 37.8% (34/90). The univariate analysis and multivariate analysis demonstrated that the clinical conditions such as elder age, shock, dyspnea, abnormal arterial blood gas, hemopneumothorax, pulmonary contusion, flail chest, coexisting pulmonary diseases, multiple abdominal injury and high ISS score were the independent high risk factors related to ARDS.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>There are many high risk factors related to ARDS following severe thoracoabdominal injuries, which should be detected early and treated timely to decrease the incidence and mortality of A RDS.</p>