TY - JOUR PY - 2023// TI - Quantifying the impact of comorbidities on length of stay in geriatric fall-related injuries JO - American surgeon A1 - McLaughlin, Christopher J. A1 - Waldron, Olivia J. A1 - Staszak, Ryan M. A1 - Gish, Joshua S. A1 - Armen, Scott B. SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - Geriatric patients who fall are among the most common mechanisms of injury presenting to trauma centers. We sought to quantify the impact of various comorbidities on length of stay (LOS) in these patients to identify areas for intervention. A level 1 trauma center's registry was queried for patients ≥65 years old with fall related injuries admitted with LOS greater than 2 days. Over 7 years, 3714 patients were included. Mean age was 80.9 ± 8.7 years. All patients fell from heights of 6 feet or less. Median total LOS was 5 days, interquartile range [3,8]. Overall mortality rate was 3.3%. The most common comorbidities were cardiovascular (57.1%), musculoskeletal (31.4%), and diabetes (20.8%). Multivariate linear regression modeling LOS identified diabetes, pulmonary, and psychiatric diseases associated with longer lengths of stay (P <.05). As trauma centers refine care for geriatric trauma patients, comorbidity management represents an opportunity for proactive intervention.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0003-1348 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00031348231157904 ID - ref1 ER -