Injured Older Adults Cared for at Trauma Centers Have Reduced Mortality

Nontrauma centers routinely care for injured older adults. Although specialized hospitals generally confer better outcomes across the spectrum of illness and injury, the survival benefit of trauma center care for acutely injured older adults remains unclear.

Using a decade of encounters recorded in Oklahoma's statewide trauma registry, researchers compared outcomes between 10,927 patients who were directly transported or secondarily transferred to Level I/II trauma centers and 14,361 patients who received all of their care at nontrauma centers. Patients included were all aged ≥55 years and had injury severity scores ≥9.

Patients receiving all care at nontrauma centers were older and more likely to have suffered a fall. In analyses rigorously …