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The advent of trauma centers has reduced morbidity and mortality associated with trauma, particularly among victims of motor vehicle accidents. To compare survival rates in children treated in designated trauma centers with those treated in nontrauma centers, investigators analyzed discharge data for 27,313 seriously injured children (age range, 0–19 years) who were treated at Florida hospitals from 1995 to 2004. The researchers also compared survival rates at pediatric and nonpediatric trauma centers.
Sixty percent of children were treated in trauma centers; 46% of all children were transported to a pediatric trauma center. The overall mortality rate was 3.2%. Analyses adjusted for triage bias (whereby more-severely injured children with gr…