Table 1.
Characteristics of elderly (65+ years) vs. non-elderly adult trauma patients from 2011–2017.
| Elderly N=1,925 (3.0%) | Non-elderly N=61,774 (97.0%) | All N =63,699 | p value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient Age (years), median (IQR) | 70 (68–76) | 30 (24–37) | 30 (24–38) | <0.001 |
| Female, n (%) | 679 (35.3) | 13,937 (22.6) | 14,616 (23.0) | <0.001 |
| Blunt Injury, n (%) | 1,629 (84.6) | 42,178 (68.3) | 43,807 (68.8) | <0.001 |
| Most severe injury, n (%) | ||||
| Soft Tissue Injury | 822 (42.7) | 41,625 (67.4) | 42,447 (66.6) | <0.001 |
| Fracture/dislocation | 808 (42.0) | 9,133 (14.8) | 9,941 (15.6) | |
| Injury to Internal Organ | 23 (1.2) | 767 (1.2) | 790 (1.2) | |
| Traumatic Brain or Spine Injury | 120 (6.2) | 3,141 (5.1) | 3,261 (5.1) | |
| Multi-system Trauma, n (%) | 585 (30.4) | 24,297 (39.3) | 24,882 (39.1) | <0.001 |
| Injury Setting, n (%) | ||||
| Home | 882 (45.8) | 15,859 (25.7) | 16,741 (26.3) | <0.001 |
| Work/school | 121 (6.3) | 7,974 (12.9) | 8,095 (12.7) | |
| Outdoors/road | 878 (45.6) | 37,180 (60.2) | 38,058 (59.8) | |
| Transferred, n (%) | 717 (37.3) | 9,326 (15.1) | 10,043 (15.8) | <0.001 |
| Initial AVPU, n (%) | ||||
| Alert | 1,715 (89.1) | 54,311 (87.9) | 56,026 (88.0) | 0.1 |
| Responds to Voice | 154 (8.0) | 5,920 (9.6) | 6,074 (9.5) | |
| Responds to Pain | 9 (0.5) | 244 (0.4) | 254 (0.4) | |
| Unresponsive | 37 (1.9) | 955 (1.6) | 992 (1.6) | |
| Malawi Trauma Score, mean (SD) | 9.1 (4.1) | 8.7 (3.6) | 8.7 (3.6) | <0.001 |
| Admitted, n (%) | 750 (39.0) | 9,388 (15.2) | 10,138 (15.9) | <0.001 |
| Underwent Surgery, n (%) | 128 (6.7) | 2,861 (4.6) | 2,989 (4.7) | <0.001 |
| Length of stay (days), median (IQR) | 15 (5–35) | 6 (2–16) | 6 (2–17) | <0.001 |
| In-hospital mortality, n (%) | 93 (4.8) | 1,460 (2.4) | 1,553 (2.4) | <0.001 |
AVPU = Alert, voice, pain, unresponsive scale, ED = Emergency department