Should pregnancy be a sole criterion for trauma code activation: a review of the trauma registry.
BACKGROUND
Trauma complicates 5% to 7% of all pregnancies and the majority are noncatastrophic events.


METHODS
All pregnant patients in the trauma registry from April 2004 to December 2008 were reviewed retrospectively for trauma code activation criteria: pregnancy as sole criterion versus anatomic/physiologic criteria. The incidence of emergent cesarean sections also was assessed.


RESULTS
There were a total of 85 Level 2 Trauma activations. Fifty-seven of the 85 activations were for pregnancy only. There were 2 cesarean sections in the pregnancy-alone group and 5 cesarean sections in the anatomic/physiologic group. A Fisher exact test was used to compare the groups. The pregnancy-alone group had a significantly lower number of cesarean sections with a P value of .0364.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with pregnancy as the sole criterion for Level 2 activations had minor injuries and a lower incidence of cesarean sections.
Department of Surgery, St. John Hospital and Medical Center, 22151 Moross Rd., Detroit, MI 48236-2172, USA.
Rachel
R
Aufforth
Elango
E
Edhayan
Dominique
D
Dempah
D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014218:Triage; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis; D055815:Young Adult