A Decision Aid for Elderly Patients with Minor Head Injury

Most minor head injury decision aids exclude elderly patients, who thus typically undergo head computed tomography (CT) testing at a very low threshold.

To develop a decision instrument for elderly patients with minor head injury, researchers in Japan performed a retrospective derivation study of patients aged ≥65 who presented within 24 hours and had undergone head CT for minor head injury (Glasgow Coma Scale score ≥13), then prospectively enrolled new patients to validate the instrument. Exclusion criteria included anticoagulation, focal neurologic symptoms, seizure, and unknown mechanism of injury. Traumatic injury was defined as any acute traumatic head CT finding, and important outcomes were defined as intensive care admission, intubati…