The Relationship Between an Individual's Birthday and Admission for Traumatic Injury.

BACKGROUND: Birthdays provide an opportunity to celebrate; however, they can also be associated with various adverse medical events. This is the first study to examine the association between birthdays and in-hospital trauma team evaluation. METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed trauma registry patients 19-89 years of age, who were evaluated by in-hospital trauma services from 1/1/2011 to 12/31/2021. RESULTS: 14,796 patients were analyzed and an association between trauma evaluation and birthdays was found. The strongest incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were on the day of birth (IRR: 1.78; P < .001) followed by ±3 days of the birthday (IRR: 1.21; P = .003). When incidence was analyzed by age groups, 19-36 years of age had the strongest IRR (2.30; P < .001) on their birthday, followed by the >65 groups (IRR: 1.34; P = .008) within ±3 days. Non-significant associations were seen in the 37-55 (IRR: 1.41; P = .209) and 56-65 groups (IRR: 1.60; P = .172) on their birthday. Patient-level characteristics were only significant for the presence of ethanol at trauma evaluation (risk ratio: 1.83; P = .017). DISCUSSION: Birthdays and trauma evaluations were found to have a group-dependent association, with the greatest incidence for the youngest age group being on their birthday, and the oldest age group within ±3 days. The presence of alcohol was found to be the best patient-level predictor of trauma evaluation.

The Impact of Relocating a Trauma Center: Retrospective Observations on Payer Demographics and Cost-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Standardization of trauma centers improves quality of care, yet that comes with financial challenges. The decision to designate a trauma center typically focuses on access, quality of care, and the needs of the local community, but less often considers the financial viability of the trauma center. A level-1 trauma center was relocated in 2017 and this presented an opportunity to compare financial data at two separate locations in the same city. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed on the local trauma registry and billing database in all patients aged ≥19 years on the trauma service before and after the move. RESULTS: 3041 patients were included (pre-move: 1151; post-move: 1890). After the move, patients were older (9.5 years), and more were females (14.9%) and white (16.5%). Increases in blunt injuries (7.6%), falls (14.8%), and motor vehicle accidents (1.7%) were observed after the move. After the move, patients were less likely to be discharged home (6.5%) and more likely to go to a skilled nursing facility (3%) or inpatient rehabilitation (5.5%). Post-move more patients had Medicare (12.6%) or commercial (8.5%) insurance and charges per patient decreased by $2,833, while charges collected per patient increased by $2425. Patients were seen from a broader distribution of zip codes post-move. DISCUSSION: Relocating a trauma center did improve financial viability for this institution. Future studies should consider the impact on the surrounding community and other trauma centers. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV.

The Impact of Relocating a Trauma Center: Observations on Patient Injury Demographics and Resident Volumes.

Introduction Changing the physical zip code location of an academic trauma center may affect the distribution and surgical volume of its trauma patients. General surgical residency case log requirements may also be affected. This study describes the impact of moving a level I trauma center to a different zip code location, on the hospital and resident trauma case volumes. Methods This retrospective analysis included all patients within the local trauma registry across two fiscal years representing the pre- and post-move timeframes. Variables collected included patient basic sociodemographic and injury information, trauma activation level and transfer status, management (operative management [OPM] versus non-operative management [NOPM]), and resident case logs. Results During fiscal years 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, 3,025 patients were included. Pre-move and post-move trauma volumes were 1,208 and 1,817 respectively. Post-move changes demonstrated differences in basic sociodemographics, with differences in age (six years older), a shift toward white and away from black (12.89%), and males being seen more frequently (11.87%). Injury severity score distribution shifted (7.72%) towards less severe trauma scores (<15), the percentage of patients with blunt trauma (4.19%) and falls increased (ground level and greater than 1 meter, 9.78%) while the number of patients considered full activations were decreased (15.67%). Proportions of OPM and NOPM trauma cases remained unchanged with the exception of a reduction in emergent operative trauma (3.1%). Resident case logs requirements were met both pre- and post-move. Conclusion Relocating the trauma center to a different zip code location did not negatively impact our resident case volumes. Total trauma volumes were increased, with a shift in the demographics and severity distribution of injuries.

Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy and Trauma: The Role of Injuries as Physical Stressors.

INTRODUCTION: Physical stressors are common predisposing factors for takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC). However, the role of traumatic injuries in TTC has not been well defined. This study describes the characteristics of TTC in the broad spectrum of traumatic injuries using the information available in the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed trauma patients ≥ 18 years old in the NTDB, from 2007 to 2018, with a diagnosis of TTC. RESULTS: A total of 95 TTC diagnoses were found. The median age was 68 years old (interquartile range: 55-80). Patients were predominantly female (67.4%), white (88.4%), and sustained blunt mechanisms of injury (90.5%). Penetrating trauma was most common in males (16%). Most diagnoses were related to extremity trauma (53.7%), followed by head injury (26.3%). The most common severity scores were Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) > 13 or < 8, and Injury Severity Score (ISS) < 15 or > 25. Males more commonly presented with GCS < 8 (68%), ISS > 25 (33%), high intensive care unit (ICU) admission rate (77.4%), and mechanical ventilation (51.6%). The median duration of the mechanical ventilation was eight days for both sexes. The ICU length of stay (LOS) was six days with a hospital LOS of nine days and a trend toward a longer LOS in males. The in-hospital mortality rate was 11.7% for both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: TTC in traumatic injuries is common at both ends of the severity spectrum and has different sex distribution. TTC patients are predominantly females and have more commonly extremity trauma than head injury. Males are more severely injured and under mechanical ventilation.

In-hospital outcomes of intercostal nerve cryoablation and surgical stabilization of rib fractures.

BACKGROUND: Severe pain and pulmonary complications commonly follow rib fractures, both of which may be improved by surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRFs). However, significant postoperative pain still persists which may negatively impact in-hospital outcomes. Combining intercostal nerve cryoablation (INCA) with SSRF may improve those outcomes by further decreasing postoperative pain, opioid consumption, and pulmonary complications. The hypothesis is that INCA plus SSRF reduces opioids consumption compared with SSRF alone. METHODS: The retrospective analysis included trauma patients 18 years or older who underwent SSRF, with or without INCA, in a Level I trauma center between 2015 and 2021. Patients received INCA at the surgeons' discretion based on familiarity with the procedure and absence of contraindications. Patients without INCA were the historical control group. Reported data include demographics, mechanism and severity of injury, number of ribs stabilized, cryoablated nerves, intubation rates and duration of mechanical ventilation. The primary outcome was total morphine milligrams equivalent consumption. Secondary outcomes were intensive care unit length of stay, hospital length of stay, incidence of pneumonia, and tracheostomy rates, and discharge disposition. Long-term outcomes were examined up to 6 months for adverse events. RESULTS: Sixty-eight patients were included, with 44 receiving INCA. There were no differences in rates of pneumonia ( p = 0.106) or duration of mechanical ventilation ( p = 0.687), and hospital length of stay was similar between groups ( p = 0.059). However, the INCA group demonstrated lower total morphine milligrams equivalent ( p = 0.002), shorter intensive care unit length of stay ( p = 0.021), higher likelihood of home discharge ( p = 0.044), and lower rate of intubation ( p = 0.002) and tracheostomy ( p = 0.032). CONCLUSION: Combining INCA with SSRF may further improve in-hospital outcomes for patients with traumatic rib fractures. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic/Care Management; Level III.

Predictors of discharge destination in patients with major traumatic injury: Analysis of Oklahoma Trauma Registry.

BACKGROUND: The ability to predict the need for discharge of trauma patients to a facility may help shorten hospital stay. This study aimed to determine the predictors of discharge to a facility and develop and validate a predictive scoring model, utilizing the Oklahoma Trauma Registry (OTR). METHODS: A multivariate analysis of the OTR 2005-2013 determined independent predictors of discharge to a facility. A scoring model was developed, and positive and negative predictive values (PPV and NPV) were evaluated for 2014 patients. RESULTS: 101,656 patients were analyzed. The scoring model included age≥50 years, lower extremity fracture, ICU stay≥5 days, pelvic fracture, intracranial hemorrhage, congestive heart failure, cardiac dysrhythmia, history of CVA or TIA, and ISS≥15, spine fracture, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Applying the model to 2014 patients, PPV for predicting discharge to a facility was 84.9% for scores≥15, and NPV was 90.5% for scores<8. CONCLUSION: A scoring model including age, trauma severity, types of injury, and comorbidities could predict discharge of trauma patients to a facility. Further studies are needed to refine the efficacy of the model.

Scaling alignment of large ontologies.

In recent years, the number of shared biomedical ontologies has increased dramatically, resulting in a need for integration of these knowledge sources. Automated solutions to aligning ontologies address this growing need. However, only very recently, solutions for scalability of ontology alignment have begun to emerge. This research investigates scalability in alignment of large-scale ontologies. We present an alignment algorithm that bounds processing by selecting optimal subtrees to align and show that this improves efficiency without significant reduction in precision. We apply the algorithm in conjunction with our approach that includes modelling ontology alignment in a Support Vector Machine.