Table 5.
Characteristics of subjects transported by HEMS and GEMS in the validation set (2010–2012)
| HEMS n = 136,066 | GEMS n = 1,072,520 | p value | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Age [years; med (IQR)] | 40 (25, 55) | 49 (29, 71) | <0.01 |
| Sex [n (%) male] | 93,630 (70.9) | 648,702 (60.5) | <0.01 |
| Insurance Status | <0.01 | ||
| Commercial [n (%)] | 67,666 (51.2) | 422,553 (39.4) | |
| Subsidized/None [n (%)] | 68,400 (48.8) | 649,967(60.6) | |
| Race [n (%)] | <0.01 | ||
| Caucasian | 114,350 (82.9) | 771,087 (70.6) | |
| Non-Caucasian | 21,716 (17.1) | 301,433 (29.4) | |
| Prehospital time [mins; med (IQR)] | 64 (50, 57) | 43 (33, 63) | <0.01 |
| ISS [med (IQR)] | 13 (6, 22) | 9 (4, 11) | <0.01 |
| Age >55 [n (%)] | 31,301 (23.7) | 438,494 (40.9) | <0.01 |
| Prehospital SBP<90mmHg [n (%)] | 7,299 (5.5) | 46,146 (4.3) | <0.01 |
| Prehospital RR<10 or >29bpm [n (%)] | 10,470 (7.9) | 45,888 (4.3) | <0.01 |
| Prehospital GCS≤13 [n (%)] | 35,615 (27.0) | 150,615 (14.0) | <0.01 |
| Penetrating injury [n (%)] | 10,919 (8.3) | 112,413 (10.5) | <0.01 |
| Unstable chest wall fractures [n (%)] | 11,250 (8.5) | 33,178 (3.1) | <0.01 |
| Open skull fracture [n (%)] | 2,959 (2.2) | 10,418 (1.0) | <0.01 |
| ≥ 2 proximal long bone fractures [n (%)] | 3,767 (2.9) | 16,937 (1.6) | <0.01 |
| Pelvic fracture [n (%)] | 15,744 (11.9) | 73,942 (6.9) | <0.01 |
| Crush injury [n (%)] | 816 (0.6) | 3,727 (0.3) | <0.01 |
| Amputation [n (%)] | 884 (0.7) | 1,446 (0.1) | <0.01 |
| Paralysis [n (%)] | 1,279 (1.0) | 2,847 (0.3) | <0.01 |
| Hemothorax or Pneumothorax [n (%)] | 26,099 (19.8) | 86,310 (8.0) | <0.01 |
| Cardiac injury [n (%)] | 1,210 (0.9) | 6,574 (0.6) | <0.01 |
| Multisystem injury [n (%)] | 3,449 (2.6) | 6,881 (0.6) | <0.01 |
| PHY + ANA injury [n (%)] | 12,920 (9.8) | 50,643 (4.7) | <0.01 |
| AMPT triage to HEMS [n (%)] | 28,259 (21.4) | 90,668 (8.5) | <0.01 |
| Survival [n (%)] | 121,494 (92) | 1,023,511 (95) | <0.01 |
HEMS, helicopter emergency medical services; GEMS, ground emergency medical services; SBP, systolic blood pressure; RR, respiratory rate; GCS, Glasgow Coma Scale; PHY + ANA, any one physiologic criterion plus any one anatomic criterion; AMPT, air medical prehospital triage