TY - JOUR PY - 2024// TI - Impact of comorbidities in severely injured patients with blunt chest injury: a population-based retrospective cohort study JO - Injury A1 - Kourouche, S. A1 - Wiseman, T. A1 - Lam, M. K. A1 - Mitchell, R. A1 - Sarrami, P. A1 - Dinh, M. A1 - Singh, H. A1 - Curtis, K. SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - INTRODUCTION: Blunt chest injuries result in up to 10 % of major trauma admissions. Comorbidities can complicate recovery and increase the mortality rate in this patient cohort. A better understanding of the association between comorbidities and patient outcomes will facilitate enhanced models of care for particularly vulnerable groups of patients, such as older adults. AIMS: i) compare the characteristics of severely injured patients with blunt chest injury with and without comorbidities and ii) examine the relationship between comorbidities and key patient outcomes: prolonged length of stay, re-admission within 28 days, and mortality within 30 days in a cohort of patients with blunt chest injury admitted after severe trauma.

METHODS: A retrospective cohort study using linked data from the NSW Trauma Registry and NSW mortality and hospitalisation records between 1st of January 2012 and 31st of December 2019.

RESULTS: After adjusting for potential confounding factors, patients with severe injuries, chest injuries, and comorbidities were found to have a 34 % increased likelihood of having a prolonged length of stay (OR = 1.34, 95 %I = 1.17-1.53) compared to patients with no comorbidities. There was no difference in 30-day mortality for patients with a severe chest injury who did or did not have comorbidities (OR = 1.05, 95 %CI = 0.80-1.39). No significant association was found between comorbidities and re-admission within 28 days.

CONCLUSION: Severely injured patients with blunt chest injury and comorbidities are at risk of prolonged length of stay.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0020-1383 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.injury.2024.111538 ID - ref1 ER -