CIGARETTE SMOKING IS ASSOCIATED WITH DECREASED MORTALITY IN CRITICALLY ILL TRAUMA PATIENTS

Associations of Age, Preinjury Morbidity, Injury Severity, and Cognitive Impairment With Mortality and Length of Stay in Trauma Consultation Patients: A Retrospective Study

Background To the best of our knowledge, we have found no trauma consultation study investigating Injury Severity Score (ISS) ≥16, Glasgow Coma Scale score (GCS), intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), age, preexisting medical conditions (PEMC), and smoking as risk conditions for mortality. Objective We aimed to assess ISS ≥16 and other postinjury and preinjury conditions for associations with death and adverse outcomes (AO). Methodology Consecutive consultations of patients admitted to a trauma center over 18 months were investigated. Data were obtained from the trauma registry and the electronic medical record. AO were death, intensive care unit stay of two days or more, or hospital stay exceeding five days. Results Among 1,031 trauma consultations, 28 patients (2.7%) died and 258 (25.0%) had AO. The proportion of ISS ≥16 was greater with death (53.6% (15/28)) than with survival (20.2% (203/1,003); p<0.0001). Of 218 patients with ISS ≥16, 93.1% (n = 203) survived, whereas 46.4% (13/28) died with an ISS <16. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for ISS ≥16 and the death relationship was 0.7 (p<0.001). The proportion of GCS <15 was greater with death (42.9% (12/28)) than with survival (13.1% (131/1,003); p<0.0001). The incidence of ICH was greater with death (57.1% (16/28)) than with survival (32.5% (326/1,003); p=0.0063). The incidence of age ≥70 was greater with death (89.3% (25/28)) than with survival (48.2% (483/1,003); p<0.0001). The proportion of PEMC was greater with death (85.7% (24/28)) than with survival (50.8% (509/1,003); p=0.0002). The proportion of smoking history was similar with death (50.0% (14/28)) and survival (52.5% (527/1,003); p=0.7905). Death had independent associations with age (p=0.0019), GCS (p<0.0001), ISS ≥16 (p=0.0074), and PEMC (p=0.0137). AO had univariate associations with ISS ≥16 (p<0.0001), GCS <15 (p<0.0001), ICH (p=0.0004), and PEMC (p=0.0002). Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for ISS ≥16 and the AO relationship was 0.6 (p<0.001). AO had independent associations with GCS (p<0.0001), ISS ≥16 (p<0.0001), and PEMC (p=0.0005). Conclusions ISS ≥16 alone is marginally accurate for classifying trauma consultation patients who died or had AO. Other postinjury and preinjury conditions, such as GCS, ICH, age, and PEMC, should also be considered when assessing one's risk of death and AO.

Smoking primes the metabolomic response in trauma

INTRODUCTION

Smoking is a public health threat because of its well-described link to increased oxidative stress-related diseases including peripheral vascular disease and coronary artery disease. Tobacco use has been linked to risk of inpatient trauma morbidity including acute respiratory distress syndrome; however, its mechanistic effect on comprehensive metabolic heterogeneity has yet to be examined.

METHODS

Plasma was obtained on arrival from injured patients at a Level 1 trauma center and analyzed with modern mass spectrometry-based metabolomics. Patients were stratified by nonsmoker, passive smoker, and active smoker by lower, interquartile, and upper quartile ranges of cotinine intensity peaks. Patients were substratified by high injury/high shock (Injury Severity Score, ≥15; base excess, <-6) and compared with healthy controls. p Value of <0.05 following false discovery rate correction of t test was considered significant.

RESULTS

Forty-eight patients with high injury/high shock (7 nonsmokers [15%], 25 passive smokers [52%], and 16 active smokers [33%]) and 95 healthy patients who served as controls (30 nonsmokers [32%], 43 passive smokers [45%], and 22 active smokers [23%]) were included. Elevated metabolites in our controls who were active smokers include enrichment in chronic inflammatory and oxidative processes. Elevated metabolites in active smokers in high injury/high shock include enrichment in the malate-aspartate shuttle, tyrosine metabolism, carnitine synthesis, and oxidation of very long-chain fatty acids.

CONCLUSION

Smoking promotes a state of oxidative stress leading to mitochondrial dysfunction, which is additive to the inflammatory milieu of trauma. Smoking is associated with impaired mitochondrial substrate utilization of long-chain fatty acids, aspartate, and tyrosine, all of which accentuate oxidative stress following injury. This altered expression represents an ideal target for therapies to reduce oxidative damage toward the goal of personalized treatment of trauma patients.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Prognostic and Epidemiological; Level IV.

Cocaine use in trauma: the vices-paradox revisited

BACKGROUND

The "vices-paradox" describes the paradoxical association between illicit substance use and decreased mortality risk in trauma patients. Cocaine's vasoconstrictive effects may decrease hemorrhage but also increase the risk of thromboembolic complications. To clarify the effects of cocaine use on trauma patients, we compared the risk of mortality and thromboembolic complications in patients screening positive for cocaine with those screening negative.

METHODS

We searched the Trauma Quality Improvement Program database to identify patients 18 years and over who had presented with a drug and alcohol screen on admission between 2017 and 2019. After excluding all patients who had tested positive for alcohol and substances other than cocaine, we then compared the clinical outcomes of patients who were positive and negative for cocaine use.

RESULTS

Of the 312,553 patients identified, 11,942 (3.82%) had tested positive for cocaine. Cocaine users were significantly more likely to present with stab (8.0% vs 3.1%) or gunshot wounds (8.0% vs 3.0%) but had lower rates of mortality (3.6% vs 4.7%), myocardial infarction (0.1% vs 0.2%,) and cerebrovascular accident (0.3% vs 0.4%,). After controlling for covariates, the risk of death, myocardial infarction, and cerebrovascular accident did not significantly differ between cocaine and non-cocaine users.

CONCLUSION

Trauma patients positive for cocaine have similar risks of death and thromboembolic complications and so have a similar prognosis to patients negative for all drugs or alcohol, indicating that the "vices-paradox" does not apply to cocaine use. However, these patients more commonly present after penetrating trauma, suggesting cocaine use in hazardous environments.

Left subclavian artery coverage during endovascular repair of thoracic aorta injury in trauma and non-trauma patients

PURPOSE

In thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR), the left subclavian artery (LSA) is often occluded. Although most patients tolerate this, some develop ischemic symptoms to the brain or left upper extremity (LUE). A revascularization procedure may be associated with significant complications. The purpose of this review was to assess the incidence of LSA occlusion, resulting ischemic symptoms, and complications related to revascularization operations in trauma patients compared to non-trauma patients.

METHODS

Studies from 2010 to 2020 were fully reviewed if they discussed incidence of LSA coverage, LUE ischemia, carotid-subclavian bypass, or complications associated with carotid-subclavian bypass.

RESULTS

Seventeen articles were included in this analysis. A total of 167 patients were identified as trauma cases. Incidence of LSA occlusion in trauma was 91/167 (54%) compared to 281/1446 (19%) in the population exclusive of trauma (p < 0.001). Following LSA occlusion, the rate of LUE claudication/ischemia was 21/56 (38%) for trauma, compared to 12/193 (6%) in non-trauma cases (p < 0.001). The overall complication rate after carotid-subclavian rescue bypass was 29.2% (33/112), with phrenic nerve palsy (24%), recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy (5%), and pseudoaneurysm (1.7%) being the most common.

CONCLUSION

LSA coverage following TEVAR is common and associated with significant complications, often requiring operative management. The incidence of ischemic complications after occlusion of the LSA is significantly higher in the trauma population. Revascularization procedures to correct the occlusion have a high rate of complications.