Prehospital factors influencing patients' injury severity score who fell from height

  • Zhe DU ,
  • Tianbing WANG
Expand
  • Trauma Medicine Center, Peking University People's Hospital; Key Laboratory of Trauma and Neural Regeneration Mi-nistry of Education; National Center for Trauma Medicine of China, Beijing 100044, China
WANG Tianbing, e-mail, wangtianbing@pkuph.edu.cn

Received date: 2022-03-01

  Online published: 2024-12-18

Copyright

, 2024, All rights reserved, without authorization

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with severe fall injury and explore the prehospital factors affecting the injury severity score (ISS). Methods: Clinical data of severe trauma patients with fall injury and ISS≥16 from January 2018 to December 2020 were retrieved from trauma database of Peking University People' s Hospital. The patients' age, gender, suicidal tendencies, psychiatric disorders, fall height, properties of the impact surface, the body part hitting the ground, abbreviated injury scale, Glasgow coma scale (GCS), length of stay in intensive care unit (ICU), operation were collected. And the in-hospital mortality were calculated. Univariate analysis and multiple linear regression models were used to analyze the relationship between the above factors and ISS. The patients' GCS, length of stay in ICU, surgery, and in-hospital mortality were collected to analyze the general clinical characteristics of patients. Results: A total of 160 patients were finally eligible, including 138 males and 22 females, with an average age of (45.56±15.85) years. Among the 160 patients, there were 36 cases (22.50%) with suicidal tendencies, 12 cases (7.50%) with psychiatric disorders. Their average fall height was (7.20±8.33) meters, and 48 cases (30.00%) hit the soft contact medium. 40 cases (25.00%) with impact on the head at the ground, lower limbs in 26 cases (16.25%), ventral in 16 cases (10.00%), dorsal in 40 cases (25.00%), lateral in 38 cases (23.75%). The patients' ISS was 22.8±6.85, GCS was 13.49±3.39, lengths of ICU stays were (9.96±8.12) days, and 142 (88.75%) patients underwent surgery, 8 in-hospital deaths were all due to head trauma, with an in-hospital mortality rate of 5.00%. Univariate analysis suggested that the main factors influencing ISS were the presence of suicidal tendencies (P=0.01) and the site of impact on the ground (P=0.02). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that suicidal tendencies and head impact on the ground were in-fluential factors for high ISS. Conclusion: Collecting prehospital information of patients with fall injuries, such as whether they have suicidal tendencies and whether they hit the ground with their heads, can effectively predict the severity of patients' injuries, which is conducive to early diagnosis, early care, and early treatment, thus reducing preventable death.

Cite this article

Zhe DU , Tianbing WANG . Prehospital factors influencing patients' injury severity score who fell from height[J]. Journal of Peking University(Health Sciences), 2024 , 56(6) : 1065 -1068 . DOI: 10.19723/j.issn.1671-167X.2024.06.019

References

1 Icer M , Guloglu C , Orak M , et al.Factors affecting mortality caused by falls from height[J].Ulus Travma Acil Cerrahi Derg,2013,19(6):529-535.
2 Fujii M , Shirakawa T , Nakamura M , et al.Factors influencing the injury severity score and the probability of survival in patients who fell from height[J].Sci Rep,2021,11(1):15561.
3 Loizou E , Bouamra O , Dark P , et al.Comparing the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and pulse rate (PR) in injured children with and without traumatic brain injury[J].Resuscitation,2010,81(4):418-421.
4 Casati A , Granieri S , Cimbanassi S , et al.Falls from height. Analysis of predictors of death in a single-center retrospective study[J].J Clin Med,2020,9(19):3175.
5 Piazzalunga D , Ruberta F , Fugazzola P , et al.Suicidal fall from heights trauma: Difficult management and poor results[J].Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg,2020,46(2):383-388.
6 Venkatesh VT , Kumar MV , Jagannatha SR , et al.Pattern of ske-letal injuries in cases of falls from a height[J].Med Sci Law,2007,47(4):330-334.
7 Liu CC , Wang CY , Shih HC , et al.Prognostic factors for mortality following falls from height[J].Injury,2009,40(6):595-597.
8 Lohanathan A , Hazra D , Jyothirmayi CA , et al.An elucidation of pattern of injuries in patients with fall from height[J].Indian J Crit Care Med,2020,24(8):683-687.
9 Faggiani M , Aragno E , Aprato A , et al.Falls from height: Orthopaedic and psychiatric evaluation[J].Acta Biomed,2020,91(4-S):79-84.
Outlines

/