Geriatric trauma patients at a suburban level-I trauma center in Japan.
BACKGROUND
Despite the increases in the aged population in Japan, there are little data on geriatric patients with traumatic injuries. A prospective clinical study was carried out to evaluate the use of the emergency medical services (EMS) system, mechanisms of injury, and prehospital assessment and triage of elderly victims of trauma.


METHODS
From July 1996 through June 1997, a group of geriatric trauma (Group G, n = 22) and a control group of younger trauma patients (n = 173) were compared with respect to transfer method to an Emergency Center (direct or indirect), Revised Trauma Scores on the scene of the accident (RTS-1) and on admission to the Emergency Center (RTS-2), and outcome (survival).


RESULTS
The mean values for RTS-1 in the Control Group (Group C) were not different from those in Group G, but RTS-2 of the indirect-transfer patients (IP) in Group G were significantly lower than were those for Group C. Group G mortality rates were significantly higher than were the control rates (p = 0.0001). The mortality rate of the IP subgroup was significantly lower than that of the direct transfer subgroup (DP) (30/68 vs. 5/70, p < 0.0001) in the Group C, but mortality rate of the IP subgroup exceeded that of the DP subgroup of Group G (8/14 vs. 5/8).


CONCLUSIONS
The data suggest that in geriatric-age patients, direct transfer patients have a lower mortality rate than do indirect transfer patients when controlled for ISS. Therefore, it seems that a different set of triage criteria should be developed and implemented for geriatric-age victims with trauma-induced injuries and that those who meet these more stringent criteria should be transferred directly to a Trauma Center.
Sugimoto
K
K
Department of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Showa University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. MN6K-SGMT@asahi-net.or.jp
Aruga
T
T
Hirata
M
M
Shindo
M
M
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013383:Suburban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015996:Survival Rate; D014187:Transportation of Patients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014193:Trauma Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014218:Triage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality