Background As the population ages, the elderly will constitute a prominent proportion of trauma patients. The elderly suffer more severe outcomes from injuries compared with the young. In this study, we examined the relationship between mortality and complications with age.
Methods This study was a retrospective review of 256 major trauma patients (Injury Severity Score > 15) admitted to an emergency center over a two- year period. Age-dependent mortality and complications were evaluated.
Results Of 256 patients, 209 (81.6%) were male and the mean age was 47.2 years. There was a trend between increasing age and increasing mortality, but this was not statistically significant. Increasing age was correlated with frequency of complications.
Conclusions Age was confirmed to be an independent predictor of mortality in major trauma. We documented that elderly trauma patients suffer from complications more frequently compared with their younger counterparts. Appropriate and specific triage and management guidelines for elderly trauma patients are needed.
Citations
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Although the incidence of purulent pericarditis has decreased significantly in the modern antibiotic era, purulent pericarditis remains a life-threatening disease.
Therefore, a high index of clinical suspicion should be maintained to diagnose this life-threatening illness at an early stage. We report an extraordinary case of purulent pericarditis, caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteremia, which developed during the recovery of septic shock with urinary tract infection. Despite of early diagnosis and pericardial drainage, in addition to adequate antibiotics, the patient subsequently developed multiple organ failure leading to death. The case highlights that purulent pericarditis is a rare yet possible disorder complicated from septic shock with bacteremia in the antibiotic era.
Therefore, purulent pericarditis should always be considered as a possible complication, especially in patients with K.
pneumoniae bacteremia and progressive cardiomegaly.