Ketamine for prehospital trauma analgesia in a low-resource rural trauma system: a retrospective comparative study of ketamine and opioid analgesia in a ten-year cohort in Iraq

Table 2 Baseline description of the study population

	No analgesia n = 275	Pentazocine n = 888	Ketamine n = 713	Total	Group comparisons
Age (years)	28 (21–39)	30 (22–38)	28 (20–36)	28 (21–37)	p = 0.08. No significant differences between groups.
Time from injury to first in-field encounter (hours)	0.5 (0.5–1.0)	0.5 (0.5–0.5)	0.5 (0.5–1)	0.5 (0.5–1)	p = 0.02.
Time from injury to first in-field encounter (hours)	0.5 (0.5–1.0)	0.5 (0.5–0.5)	0.5 (0.5–1)	0.5 (0.5–1)	Ketamine vs pentazocine group: p = 0.04.
Time from injury to hospital admission (hours)	2 (1.5–3.0)	2 (1.5–3.0)	3 (2.0–4.5)	2.5 (2–3.5)	p = <0.0001
					Ketamine vs no analgesia p = <0.0001
					Ketamine vs pentazocine p = <0.0001
PSS at first in-field encounter	10 (7–11)	10 (4–9)	10 (9–11)	10 (9–11)	p = <0.0001
					Pentazocine vs no analgesia p = <0.0001
					Ketamine vs no analgesia p = <0.0001
Injury severity score (ISS)	5 (4–13)	5 (4–9)	9 (4–9)	5 (4–9)	p = <0.0001
					Pentazocine vs no analgesia p = <0.0001
					Ketamine vs no analgesia p = <0.0001
Males (proportion)	233/275 = 0.85	672/888 = 0.76	602/713 = 0.84	1507/1876 = 0.80	p = <0.0001
Males (proportion)	233/275 = 0.85	672/888 = 0.76	602/713 = 0.84	1507/1876 = 0.80	All groups significantly different.
Blunt injury (proportion)	196/275 = 0.71	730/888 = 0.82	192/713 = 0.27	1118/1876 = 0.60	p = <0.0001
Blunt injury (proportion)	196/275 = 0.71	730/888 = 0.82	192/713 = 0.27	1118/1876 = 0.60	All groups significantly different.

Continuous values are expressed as median with 25–75 % interquartile range. Proportions are expressed as actual number followed by the calculated proportion

ISSN: 1757-7241