Baseline characteristics and injury details of study patients
| Characteristic | No. (%)* of patients n = 982 |
|---|---|
| Age at injury, yr, mean (SD) | 42.0 (19.4) |
| Sex, male | 730 (74.3) |
| Covered by worker’s compensation | 231 (23.5) |
| Mechanism of injury | |
| Road traffic injury† | 591 (60.2) |
| Fall from height‡ | 275 (28.0) |
| Fall on stairs | 54 (5.5) |
| Other§ | 62 (6.3) |
| ISS¶, mean (SD) | 14.1 (13.0) |
| ISS, median (IQR) | 10 (4–21) |
| Multiple trauma (ISS >15) | 360 (36.7) |
| ISS, mean (SD) | 27.7 (12.1) |
| ISS, median (IQR) | 25 (18–33) |
| Fracture of an extremity | |
| Humeral shaft | 45 (4.6) |
| Forearm | 112 (11.4) |
| Femoral shaft, any | 117 (11.9) |
| Femoral shaft, bilateral | 29 (3.0) |
| Tibia | 169 (17.2) |
| Multiple, upper limb | 24 (2.4) |
| Multiple, lower limb | 78 (7.9) |
| Time between admission and scanning, min, mean (SD) | 55.8 (133.1) |
| Time between admission and scanning, min, median (IQR) | 29 (20–46) |
| Subsequent reference tests | |
| Computed tomography | |
| Cranial | 257 (26.2) |
| Chest | 69 (7.0) |
| Abdominal | 72 (7.3) |
| Pelvic | 47 (4.8) |
| Spine | 112 (11.4) |
| Ultrasound | 331 (33.7) |
| Magnetic resonance imaging | 173 (17.6) |
| Thoracotomy | 5 (0.5) |
| Laparotomy | 37 (3.8) |
| Plain radiographs | 711 (72.4) |
| Autopsy | 5 (0.5) |
| Patients with any reference test | 816 (83.1) |
| Patients with ≥ 2 reference tests | 522 (53.2) |
| Patients with any conclusive reference test** | 474 (48.3) |
| Duration of follow-up, days, mean (SD) | 293.7 (420.7) |
| Duration of follow-up, days, median (IQR) | 39 (7–490) |
| Death | 70 (7.1) |
Note: IQR = interquartile range, ISS = Injury Severity Score, SD = standard deviation.
↵* Unless stated otherwise.
↵† Patients with road traffic injuries included car occupants (n = 260), motorcyclists (n = 140), pedestrians (n = 94), bicycle riders (n = 79) and heavy-vehicle drivers (n = 14). The injury mechanism was not specified in four cases.
↵‡ The mean height of falling was 2.2 (SD 2.4) metres.
↵§ Other injuries: assaults (n = 14); equestrian injuries (n = 12); explosions (n = 9); airplane crashes and skydiving injuries (n = 8); burns (n = 8); crushes and spillages (n = 8); electric trauma (n = 3).
↵¶ The Injury Severity Score was computed as the sum of the squared six-point ordinal Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) severity code (known as the post-dot code of the AIS) of the three most severe injuries located in the following anatomic regions: head and neck, face, chest, abdomen (including pelvic organ injuries), extremities (including pelvic ring injuries), and external (i.e., skin and soft tissue). The individual AIS severity code can be traced from the AIS Codebook.21 Although the AIS may reach values between 1 (minor) and 6 (lethal), the ISS ranges from 0 to 75. An ISS greater than 15 indicate the presence of multiple trauma.
↵** Includes computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging of any region, surgical intervention, or autopsy.