Document Detail


Geographic cluster analysis of injury severity and hospital resource use in a regional trauma system.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20095830     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
OBJECTIVES: To determine clusters of trauma incidents with high injury severity and resource utilization and to test their association with census demographic information.
METHODS: Using "trauma band" unique identifiers and probabilistic linkage for unmatched cases, we matched injury location information collected from a centralized regional trauma communications center to the state trauma system registry for patients directly transported to two level I trauma centers for the years 2001-2003 in a three-county area. The injury locations were aggregated at the census tract level using a geographic information system (GIS). Moran's I analysis was used to determine clusters of census tracts that had a high incidence of either total trauma injuries, Injury Severity Scores (ISSs) >15, or high resource use (in-hospital mortality, admission to the intensive care unit, or major nonorthopedic surgery). These clusters were then tested for association with census tract demographics using logistic regression.
RESULTS: Eight thousand seven hundred fifty-one injured persons were directly transported from the tricounty area to a trauma center during the study period. The mean (+/- standard deviation) age was 37 +/- 21 years, 67.4% were male, 18.9% had ISSs >15, and 29.8% had a high-resource-use indicator. Moran's I analysis demonstrated a single large cluster of incidents for total injuries, ISS >15, and occurrence of a high-resource-use indictor that overlapped except for one small census tract. Logistic regression revealed that the high-risk cluster was associated with a higher prevalence of nonwhite population and vacant housing and a lower prevalence of foreign-born residents and family housing.
CONCLUSIONS: GIS cluster analysis demonstrated high-risk census tracts for trauma incidents and associated population demographics. Geospatial analyses may assist injury prevention interventions and emergency medical services deployment strategies for trauma.
Authors:
Craig Warden; Ritu Sahni; Craig Newgard
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Prehospital emergency care : official journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the National Association of State EMS Directors     Volume:  14     ISSN:  1545-0066     ISO Abbreviation:  Prehosp Emerg Care     Publication Date:    2010 Apr-Jun
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-03-04     Completed Date:  2010-06-02     Revised Date:  2012-04-04    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9703530     Medline TA:  Prehosp Emerg Care     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  137-44     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon 97239, USA. warden@ohsu.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Adult
Algorithms
Cluster Analysis
Female
Geographic Information Systems*
Hospitals / utilization*
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Observation
Retrospective Studies
Trauma Severity Indices*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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