Changes in vital signs of trauma victims from the pre-hospital to the hospital settings and their associations with injury severity and a need for an emergency operation
Abstract
Overview
The objective of this article is to characterize changes in vital signs of trauma victims from pre-hospital to hospital settings, their associations with injury severity, and the need for an emergency operation. Methods: a prospective cohort included 601 patients admitted to a level one trauma centre from 1 July to 30 September 2007. All pre-hospital and hospital admission values of Glasgow coma score (GCS), systolic blood pressure (SBP), heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (Resp) and oxygen saturation (SpO2) were recorded. All urgent major surgical procedures were graded in real-time as: emergency, urgent, or not urgent. Injury severity score (ISS) was calculated following completion of all the diagnostic work-up. Patients were classified as major trauma victims if their calculated ISS was 16 or greater, and those who needed an urgent intervention or intensive care. Vital signs trends were analyzed using the students' T–test. Associations with injury severity and the need for an emergency operation were analyzed using chi-squared test. The statistical significance level was set at 5% (
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