In the article by Florian Debus and coauthors entitled “Numbers of Severely Injured Patients in Germany—A Retrospective Analysis From the DGU (German Society for Trauma Surgery) Trauma Registry,” which appeared in issue 49/2015 of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, the data from the publication of Kühne et al. (2006) were not correctly reported.
The extrapolation of Kühne et al. was based on 35 300 polytrauma patients rather than, as erroneously reported by Debus et al., severely injured patients (e.g. those with an Injury Severity Score [ISS] = 16). When comparing the numbers from Kühne et al. with their own calculations, Debus et al. drew the following conclusions based on this error:
1) The number of severely injured patients in Germany is smaller than previously believed.
2) The number of severely injured patients in Germany is declining.
Both statements are incorrect. The correct conclusions are:
1) The annual number of severely injured patients in Germany, defined as those with an ISS = 16, is currently between 18 200 and 18 400, and this number has remained almost constant since 2006.
2) The number of severely injured persons registered in the TraumaRegister DGU according to their admission criteria is approximately 31 000 (“base” collective from the TraumaRegister DGU 2015 annual report), and this number has likewise not changed significantly as compared to the 2006 extrapolation. MWR