Table 1 Demographics, injury characteristics and outcome for adult patients with isolated moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury primarily admitted to acute care trauma hospitals, by transfer status to a neurotrauma center
All patients (n = 1735) | Not transferred (n = 1043) | Transferred (n = 692) | P valuea | Missing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Patient age, median (IQR) | 67 (49–80) | 72 (53–84) | 60 (42–71) | < 0.001 | 0.0% |
Sex | < 0.001 | 0.0% | |||
Female | 563 (32.4) | 387 (37.1) | 176 (25.4) | ||
Male | 1172 (67.6) | 656 (62.9) | 516 (74.6) | ||
Preinjury ASA-PS | 0.015 | 3.7% | |||
Normal health | 572 (34.3) | 334 (32.9) | 238 (36.4) | ||
Mild systemic disease | 641 (38.4) | 392 (38.6) | 249 (38.1) | ||
Severe systemic disease | 423 (25.3) | 276 (27.2) | 147 (22.5) | ||
Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life | 34 (2.0) | 14 (1.4) | 20 (3.1) | ||
Mechanism of injury | 0.009 | 5.0% | |||
Traffic-related | 244 (14.8) | 154 (15.3) | 90 (14.0) | ||
Low-energy fallb | 834 (50.6) | 536 (53.2) | 298 (46.4) | ||
High-energy fall | 404 (24.5) | 227 (22.5) | 177 (27.6) | ||
Other | 167 (10.1) | 90 (8.9) | 77 (12.0) | ||
Injury site’s centrality class c | 0.693 | 6.3% | |||
Major urban Norway | 483 (29.7) | 291 (29.0) | 192 (30.9) | ||
Minor urban Norway | 938 (57.7) | 587 (58.5) | 351 (56.5) | ||
Rural Norway | 204 (12.6) | 126 (12.5) | 78 (12.6) | ||
Distance between ACTH and NTC d | 0.376 | 0,0% | |||
Kilometers, median (IQR) | 103 (55–220) | 103 (55–220) | 123 (61–195) | ||
NISS, median (IQR) | 22 (14–30) | 17 (14–25) | 29 (22–41) | < 0.001 | 0.0% |
Maximum AIS Head score | < 0.001 | 0.0% | |||
3 | 862 (49.7) | 628 (60.2) | 234 (33.8) | ||
4 | 402 (23.2) | 249 (23.9) | 153 (22.1) | ||
5-6e | 471 (27.2) | 166 (15.9) | 305 (44.1) | ||
GCS score on admission | < 0.001 | 17.5% | |||
14–15 | 933 (65.2) | 746 (73.4) | 187 (45.2) | ||
9–13 | 269 (18.8) | 144 (14.2) | 125 (30.2) | ||
<9 | 229 (15.6) | 127 (12.5) | 102 (24.6) | ||
Type of head injury f | 0.0% | ||||
Subdural hematoma | 1120 (64.6) | 635 (60.9) | 485 (70.1) | < 0.001 | |
Skull fracture | 818 (47.1) | 391 (37.5) | 427 (61.7) | < 0.001 | |
tSAH | 742 (42.8) | 367 (35.2) | 375 (54.2) | < 0.001 | |
Contusion | 731 (42.1) | 349 (33.5) | 382 (55.2) | < 0.001 | |
Epidural hematoma | 191 (11.0) | 53 (5.1) | 138 (19.9) | < 0.001 | |
Brain stem | 62 (3.6) | 17 (1.6) | 45 (6.5) | < 0.001 | |
Highest level of in-hospital care g | < 0.001 | 1.1% | |||
General ward | 373 (21.7) | 342 (33.3) | 31 (4.5) | ||
CCU/HDU | 1295 (75.5) | 662 (64.5) | 633 (91.7) | ||
Other | 48 (2.8) | 22 (2.1) | 26 (3.8) | ||
30-day mortality | 265 (15.7) | 176 (17.4) | 89 (13.1) | 0.019 | 2.5% |