Drugs in fall versus non-fall accidents with major trauma - A population-based clinical and medico-legal autopsy study.

BACKGROUND: The main aim of the present population-based study was to compare drugs in fall versus non-fall accidents causing major trauma, including both clinical and medico-legal autopsy data. METHODS: All individuals with accidents resulting in major trauma, a new injury severity score (NISS)>15 or lethal outcome was identified at hospital and/or the Department of Forensic Medicine between 2011 and 2013. Modified Downton Fall Risk Index ranged from 0 to 7, and was based on specific pharmaceuticals (max 5 points), previous fall (1 point) and cognitive impairment (1 point). RESULTS: One hundred and four individuals with major traumatic accidents were identified, 38 (36.5%) died. The median modified Downton Fall Risk Index was 2 for fall accidents and 0 for non-fall accidents (p < 0.001). Modified Downton Fall Risk Index was an age-independent factor associated with fall accident (p < 0.001). The medico-legal autopsy rate for in-hospital patients was 50% (6/12) for fatal fall accidents in comparison with 92.3% (12/13) for fatal non-fall accidents (p = 0.03). In individuals undergoing medico-legal autopsy, the proportion of individuals with any detected drug was 77% in fall accidents compared to 39% in non-fall accidents (p = 0.036). The presence of sedatives (p = 0.002) and bensodiazepines (p = 0.023) were higher for fall accidents compared to non-fall accidents. CONCLUSION: This population-based study on accidents with major trauma showed that drugs had high impact on fall accidents with major trauma. It seems warranted from a public health perspective to study if implementation of medication review guidelines at hospital managing polypharmacy issues may prevent fall accident recidivism.

Multivariate linear regression modelling of lung weight in 24,056 Swedish medico-legal autopsy cases.

Heavy combined lung weight at autopsy is a non-specific autopsy finding associated with certain causes of death such as intoxication. There is however no clear definition of what constitutes "heavy" lung weight. Different reference values have been suggested but previous studies have been limited by small select populations and only univariate regression has been attempted. The aim of this study was to create a model to estimate lung weight from decedent parameters. We identified all cases >18 years age autopsied at the Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine from 2000 through 2013, excluding cases with a post-mortem interval >5 days as well as cases with extreme values, totalling 24,056 cases. We analysed body weight, body height, sex, age, BMI, BSA as well as untransformed and transformed lung weight. The analysis was stratified for sex. We evaluated the fit of the models and that the model assumptions were not violated. We set out to apply the model with the highest residual sum of squares to derive limits for heavy lungs. In univariate regression BSA and height showed best performance. The final model included height, weight and age group. After excluding large standardized residuals (>3, <-3) the final model achieved R2 of 0.132 and 0.106 for women and men respectively. While we managed to create a multivariate model its performance was poor, possibly a fact reflective of the physiological nature of the lungs and in turn its variability in fluid content. Linear regression is a poor model for estimating lung weight in an unselected population.

Socio-economic status and major trauma in a Scandinavian urban city: A population-based case-control study.

AIMS: Epidemiological studies of patients with major trauma, including both hospitalized and immediately deceased whom are undergoing medico-legal autopsy, are very rare. We studied the incidence and mortality of major trauma in all 10 districts in the Scandinavian city of Malmö, Sweden, and the association between socio-economic status and major trauma. METHODS: Major trauma was defined as a New Injury Severity Score > 15, or a lethal outcome due to trauma. Cases with a registration address in Malmö between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2013 were identified from the red trauma alarm list in the hospital and the autopsy register in the Forensic Department. Statistics Sweden matched each case with four randomly selected age-, gender- and district-matched controls. Social assistance within the household, level of education, income and capital income were compared. RESULTS: We identified 117 cases (80 men and 37 women) with a median age of 48.0 years (IQR 28.5-65.0). The incidence of major trauma in Malmö was 12.7 (95% CI 10.4-15.0) per 100,000 person-years; and 69 died due to major trauma, with 8.4 (95% CI 6.4-10.4) per 1000 deaths. Lower income (p = 0.024), no income (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.0-2.4; p = 0.037) and social assistance (OR 2.3; 95% CI 1.3-4.1; p = 0.003) were associated with major trauma. The level of education was not found to be related to major trauma (p = 0.47). CONCLUSIONS: Low income and social assistance within the household were associated with major trauma in the city of Malmö, but not the level of education; in this age-, gender- and district-matched case-control study of major trauma.

Necessity of including medico-legal autopsy data in epidemiological surveys of individuals with major trauma.

BACKGROUND: It is rare that epidemiological surveys of patients with major trauma include both those admitted to the emergency department and those sent for medico-legal autopsy. The main aim of the present population-based study of major trauma was to examine the importance of medico-legal autopsy data. METHODS: A new injury severity score (NISS)>15 or lethal outcome was used as criteria for major trauma and to identify patients at the emergency, anaesthesiology and forensic departments and/or being within the jurisdiction of the Malmö police authority and subjected to a medico-legal autopsy between 2011 and 2013. According to Swedish legislation all trauma related deaths should be reported to the police who refer these cases for medico-legal autopsy. RESULTS: Among the 174 individuals included, 92 (53%) died and 81 (47%) underwent medico-legal autopsy. One hundred twenty-six patients were primarily admitted to hospital and 48 died before admission to hospital and were sent directly for medico-legal autopsy. Forty-four in-hospital deaths occurred, of whom 33 (75%) were sent to medico-legal autopsy. In those sent directly to the department of forensic medicine the proportion of accidents was lower (p<0.001), self-inflicted injuries higher (p<0.001) and gunshot wounds higher (p=0.002) in comparison with those sent to hospital. The most prevalent drugs detected by forensic toxicology screening in the 81 fatalities were ethanol (20%), sedatives (16%), anti-depressives (15%) and illicit narcotics (9%). Forty-four cases (54%) were positive for at least one drug, and twenty-eight cases (35%) were positive for two or more drugs. Factors associated with a lower rate of medico-legal autopsies among trauma-related deaths at hospital were high age (p<0.001), lower NISS (p<0.001), a longer duration between trauma and death (p<0.001), falls (p=0.030) and trauma-related infections (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: This population based study covering clinical and forensic data shows that more than half of the individuals sustaining major trauma died. An additional 25% of the in-hospital fatalities should have undergone medico-legal autopsy according to legislation, but did not. The high proportion of positive toxicological findings among fatalities examined at medico-legal autopsy implies that toxicology screening should be routine in major trauma patients, in order to improve treatment and prevention.