title: The risk of death for Jehovah's Witnesses after major trauma.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Trauma surgeons are faced with life-threatening blood loss in patients such as Jehovah's Witnesses. We assessed and compared the risks of death after major trauma for Jehovah's Witnesses and other religious groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective cohort study was conducted between August 1992 and September 1999 in a Level I academic trauma center. Statistical methods included Tukey's one-way analysis of variance, chi2 analysis, and bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cohort consisted of 556 patients: 82 Jehovah's Witnesses (14.7%), 52 Baptists (9.4%), 101 Catholics (18.2%), and 321 patients belonging to other religious groups (57.7%). Mean Injury Severity Scores for 433 patients were 10.3 +/- 9, 8.9 +/- 10, 10.3 +/- 11, and 11.3 +/- 14, respectively. There were no significant differences in mean Injury Severity Scores between religious groups, and no statistically significant associations between religion and Injury Severity Scores were identified. Significant predictors of mortality were age, systolic blood pressure at admission, Glasgow Coma Scale score, and type of trauma. Jehovah's Witnesses were 6% more likely to die after major trauma than Baptists, 20% more likely than Catholics, and as likely as patients from any other religious groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  After controlling for age, race, systolic blood pressure, Glasgow Coma Scale score, and type of trauma, Jehovah's Witnesses have a nonsignificant increased risk of death after major trauma compared with other religious groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Miami School of Medicine, Florida, USA. varela@uic.edu
authors.forename: J Esteban
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Varela
authors.forename: Orlando
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Gomez-Marin
authors.forename: Lora E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Fleming
authors.forename: Stephen M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Cohn
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002835:Christianity; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D033221:Jehovah's Witnesses; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality*