title: [Long-term survival after severe trauma].
abstract: Long-term survival after severe trauma is rarely addressed in German trauma journals although knowledge of life expectancy and identification of factors contributing to increased mortality are important for lifetime care management, development of service models, and targeting health promotion and prevention interventions. As reliable data in Germany are lacking, we compiled data mainly from the USA and Australia to describe life expectancy, risk factors, and predictors of outcome in patients experiencing traumatic spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and polytrauma. Two years after trauma, life expectancy in all three categories was significantly lower than that of the general population. It depends strongly on severity of disability, age, and gender and is quantifiable. Whereas improvements in medical care have led to a marked decline in short-term mortality, surprisingly long-term survival in severe trauma has not changed over the past 30 years. Therefore, there is need to intensify long-term trauma patient care and to find new strategies to limit primary damage.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Allgemeine Unfall- und Wiederherstellungschirurgie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Nußbaumstr. 20, 80336, München, Deutschland. Wolf.Mutschler@med.uni-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mutschler
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Orthopädie,Unfallchirurgie und Sporttraumatologie, Kliniken der Stadt Köln, Universität Witten-Herdecke Campus Köln-Merheim, Köln, Deutschland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mutschler
authors.affiliation: Institut für Rechtsmedizin, Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität München, München, Deutschland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Graw
authors.affiliation: Institut für Forschung in der Operativen Medizin, Universität Witten-Herdecke,Campus Köln-Merheim, Köln, Deutschland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lefering
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D000070642:Brain Injuries, Traumatic / Q000401:mortality* / Q000523:psychology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000401:mortality* / Q000523:psychology; D015996:Survival Rate; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Life expectancy; Multiple injuries; Sepsis; Spinal cord injury; Traumatic brain injury