Table 1 Patient characteristics, continuous: median (IQR), categorical: number (%); including percentage missingness for patient characteristics from core dataset (N = 1347)
Primary referral (N = 1152) | % missing | Early secondary referral (N = 195) | % missing | p value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Patient characteristics | |||||
Male (%) | 837 (72.7) | 0.0 | 146 (74.9) | 0.0 | 0.52 |
Age (median [IQR]) | 47 [28, 65] | 0.0 | 52 [29, 67] | 0.0 | 0.34 |
Alcohol usage (%) | 295 (29.0) | 11.6 | 71 (42.3) | 13.8 | 0.001 |
Drugs usage (%) | 50 (5.4) | 20.3 | 10 (7.4) | 30.3 | 0.37 |
Injury characteristics | |||||
Cause of injury (%) | 10.9 | 15.9 | < 0.001 | ||
Fall | 420 (40.9) | 84 (51.2) | |||
Road traffic incident | 551 (53.7) | 60 (36.6) | |||
Suicide | 26 (2.5) | 3 (1.8) | |||
Violence | 30 (2.9) | 17 (10.4) | |||
Area of injury = urban (%) | 837 (75.0) | 3.1 | 143 (76.5) | 4.1 | 0.67 |
Place of injury (%) | 2.3 | 5.1 | < 0.001 | ||
Home | 275 (24.4) | 50 (27.0) | |||
Public location | 66 (5.9) | 35 (18.9) | |||
Sport | 56 (5.0) | 7 (3.8) | |||
Street | 663 (58.9) | 86 (46.5) | |||
Work | 66 (5.9) | 7 (3.8) | |||
GCS at arrival ED (median [IQR]) | 6 [3, 9] | 0.0 | 7 [3, 10] | 0.0 | < 0.001 |
Hypoxia at arrival ED | 186 (16.9) | 0.0 | 18 (10.3) | 0.0 | < 0.001 |
Hypotension at arrival ED | 196 (17.9) | 0.0 | 20 (11.7) | 0.0 | < 0.001 |
Total ISS (median [IQR]) | 34 [25, 45] | 0.7 | 26 [25, 41] | 1.0 | 0.03 |
Major extracranial injury (AIS > 3) (%) | 652 (57.0) | 0.7 | 83 (43.0) | 1.0 | < 0.001 |
Pupil differences at ED (%) | 3.4 | 6.7 | 0.10 | ||
No pupil difference | 809 (72.7) | 146 (80.2) | |||
One pupil not reactive | 94 (8.4) | 12 (6.6) | |||
Two pupils not reactive | 210 (18.9) | 24 (13.2) | |||
Prehospital care | |||||
Intubation (%) | 701 (62.1) | 2.1 | 37 (20.7) | 8.2 | < 0.001 |
Ventilation (%) | 646 (58.0) | 3.4 | 35 (19.7) | 8.7 | < 0.001 |
CPR (%) | 35 (3.0) | 0.0 | 2 (1.0) | 0.0 | 0.11 |
Oxygen supply (%) | 853 (78.8) | 6.1 | 97 (65.5) | 24.1 | < 0.001 |
IV fluids (%) | 727 (63.1) | 0.0 | 65 (33.3) | 0.0 | < 0.001 |
Physician on scene (%) | 858 (74.7) | 0.3 | 86 (44.6) | 1.0 | < 0.001 |
Mode of transport (%) | 0.0 | 0.0 | < 0.001 | ||
Ambulance | 769 (66.8) | 160 (82.1) | |||
Helicopter | 271 (23.5) | 16 (8.2) | |||
Medical mobile team | 112 (9.7) | 19 (9.7) | |||
Time from leaving scene to first hospital (median [IQR]) | 20 [12, 39] | 41.8 | 11 [9, 24] | 88 | 0.02 |
Time to study center (median [IQR]) | 20 [12, 39] | 41.8 | 205[160, 286] | 53 | < 0.001 |
Local policy characteristics | |||||
Prehospital triage protocol favours direct admission (%) | 334 (46.7) | 37.9 | 28 (27.2) | 47.2 | < 0.001 |
Training of prehospital staff (%) | 19.4 | 24.1 | 0.61 | ||
BLS only | 168 (18.1) | 22 (14.9) | |||
Emergency medical technician | 590 (63.6) | 99 (66.9) | |||
Nurse | 170 (18.3) | 27 (18.2) | |||
Imaging characteristics | |||||
Acute subdural hematoma (%) | 700 (64.6) | 5.9 | 131 (77.1) | 12.8 | 0.004 |
Traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (%) | 747 (73.6) | 11.9 | 114 (76.5) | 23.6 | 0.449 |
Epidural hematoma (%) | 165 (16.2) | 11.7 | 28 (18.7) | 23.1 | 0.452 |
Skull fracture (%) | 617 (59.9) | 10.6 | 104 (65.8) | 19.0 | 0.115 |
Midline shift (%) | 377 (35.6) | 8.0 | 91 (53.8) | 13.3 | 0.007 |
Cisternal compression (%) | 435 (41.6) | 9.3 | 81 (50.6) | 17.9 | 0.142 |
Mass lesion (%) | 347 (34.1) | 11.6 | 79 (52.0) | 22.1 | < 0.001 |
Intraventricular hemorrhage (%) | 290 (28.6) | 12.0 | 41 (27.0) | 22.1 | 0.678 |
Contusion (%) | 734 (69.3) | 8.1 | 134 (79.3) | 13.3 | 0.033 |
Emergency intracranial surgical intervention (%) | 286 (24.9) | 0.3 | 62 (32.1) | 1.0 | 0.034 |
Time from injury to emergency surgery (median [IQR]) | 210 [150, 348] | 37 | 345 [259, 479] | 20.6 | < 0.001 |
Outcome | |||||
6 Months GOSE (median [IQR]) | 4.00 [1.00, 6.00] | 12.7 | 4.00 [1.00, 7.00] | 14 | 0.430 |
Unfavourable outcome (GOSE < 5, %) | 491 (48.8) | 12.7 | 62 (37.3) | 14 | < 0.001 |
In-hospital mortality (%) | 190 (20.0) | 17.7 | 30 (18.5) | 16.9 | 0.610 |