Poorer outcomes for mass casualty events victims: is it evidence based?
BACKGROUND
The sudden influx of patients during mass casualty events (MCEs) may compromise the quality of care provided and possibly impact on the medical outcomes of these patients. To test this assumption, a comparison must be made between injuries sustained in MCE and non-MCE events caused by the same mechanism. The mechanism of injury selected for this study was gunshot wounds, which occur in both types of event.


METHODS
A retrospective study was carried out using the Israel's National Trauma Registry data on patients hospitalized between November 1, 2000, and December 31, 2005, as a result of high-energy gunshot trauma. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis were used to characterize injury patterns, and multivariate analysis was used to determine factors influencing inpatient mortality.


RESULTS
Of 462 patients with gunshot wounds, 120 cases (26.38%) were defined as MCE and 342 (73.62%) as non-MCE. Both populations had ∼30% of severely injured patients (Injury Severity Score 16+). MCE patients had undergone significantly fewer operational procedures. No differences between MCE and non-MCE were found in intensive care units utilization. The likelihood of death as a result of MCE was 2.75 (CI 1.09-7.02) times higher than non-MCE. Factors influencing this difference are the number of injured regions and injuries to the brain, chest, and abdomen.


CONCLUSIONS
MCE patients have a significantly higher mortality than non-MCE patients, not manifesting substantial differences in the severity of injuries. The absence of difference in intensive care units utilization may be related to the effectiveness of existing protocols for dealing with MCEs.
Peleg
Kobi
K
Israel National Centre for Trauma and Emergency Research, Gertner Institute, Tel Hashomer, Israel.
Rozenfeld
Michael
M
Stein
Michael
M
D000007:Abdominal Injuries / Q000401:mortality; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000401:mortality; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003422:Critical Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents / Q000401:mortality* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D013898:Thoracic Injuries / Q000401:mortality; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000401:mortality; D055815:Young Adult