TABLE 1b.
Demographics by injury group: cervical, thoracic, lumbar
| Cervical (N=222) | Thoracic (N=90 ) | Lumbar (N=32) | p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | 47 (18–90) | 38 (19–83) | 37 (18–83) | 0.0001 |
| Male | 175 (78.8%) | 76 (84.4%) | 26 (81.3%) | 0.5460 |
| Blunt mechanism | 204 (91.9%) | 64 (71.1%) | 27 (84.4%) | 0.0000 |
| Mean injury severity score | 31 +/− 17 | 36 +/− 13.0 | 36 +/− 16.0 | 0.0160 |
| Mean AIS-head | 4 +/− 2 | 2 +/− 2 | 1 +/− 2 | 0.0000 |
| Mean AIS-chest | 1 +/− 2 | 4 +/− 1 | 2 +/− 2 | 0.0000 |
| Median arrival Glasgow coma scale | 14 (6–15) | 14 (9–15) | 15 (14–15) | 0.0311 |
| Complete injury | 111 (50.0%) | 53 (58.9%) | 8 (25.0%) | 0.0050 |
| Traumatic brain injury | 47 (21.2%) | 20 (22.2%) | 5 (15.6%) | 0.1720 |
| Other injury | 137 (61.7%) | 62 (68.9%) | 10 (31.3%) | 0.0000 |
| Operative stabilization | 161 (72.5%) | 47 (52.2%) | 21 (65.6%) | 0.0070 |
| Ventilator associated pneumonia | 100 (45.1%) | 29 (32.2%) | 2 (6.3%) | 0.0000 |
| Acute lung injury | 17 (7.7%) | 7 (7.8%) | 2 (6.3%) | 0.1140 |
| Acute respiratory distress syndrome | 22 (9.9%) | 7 (7.8%) | 1 (3.1%) | 0.4990 |
| ICU days | 14 (7–24) | 9 (5–21) | 6 (3–8) | 0.0001 |
| Hospital days | 20 (12–32) | 18 (11–33) | 16 (9–27) | 0.3557 |
| Ventilator-free days (to 28 days) | 10 (0–23) | 21 (6–26) | 26 (19–26) | 0.0001 |
| Extubation attempted | 95 (42.8%) | 65 (72.2%) | 27 (84.4%) | 0.0000 |
| Successfully extubated | 80 (36.0%) | 60 (66.7%) | 28 (87.5%) | 0.0000 |
| Tracheostomy | 122 (55%) | 24 (26.7%) | 3 (9.4%) | 0.0000 |
| Not mechnically ventilated at discharge | 139 (62.6%) | 78 (86.7%) | 30 (93.8%) | 0.0000 |
| Cause of death secondary to respiratory failure | 5 (2.3%) | 0 (0.0%) | 1 (3.1%) | 0.4410 |
| Expired | 22 (9.9%) | 8 (8.9%) | 2 (6.3%) | 0.9180 |
*
Patient demographics, injury characteristics, ventilatory status at discharge or transfer, and outcomes for patients by level of spinal cord injury. Significance assessed by Kruskal-Wallis for continuous and Fisher’s exact test for dichotomous outcomes among groups. Data are mean +/− SD, median (inter-quartile range), or n (%) as indicated. For not-normally distributed variables reported as median with inter-quartile ranges. Ventilator-free days are counted to 28 days.