The Outcomes of Head Trauma Due to Road Traffic Accident in Hospitalized Elderly Patients

Head trauma is one of the most important causes of death in trauma centers. In particular, treatment of head injury in the elderly seems more complicated than that of the young and middle aged. This study aimed to identify the outcomes of head trauma due to road traffic accidents (RTAs) in elderly patients.

In a descriptive-analytical study, records of 294 elderly patients with head trauma due to RTA retrieved from health information system were reviewed using a checklist. The outcomes of patients were evaluated using the Glasgow Outcome Scale. Complete recovery and partial disability were considered as favorable outcomes, whereas severe disability, vegetative state, and death were defined as unfavorable outcomes. Descriptive factors and adjusted coefficients were calculated using SPSS software.

Of 294 elderly patients, 77.2% were men. About half of the road accidents had occurred in urban areas (58.8%). Less than half of the injured elderly were pedestrian (44.9%). The mean Glasgow Coma Scale of patients equaled 13.42 ± 3.29. Unfavorable outcomes were observed only in 20.4% of the patients. There were significant differences in head injury severity between the groups with favorable and unfavorable outcomes (P < 0.05). Moreover, intraventricular hemorrhage was significantly associated with the highest prevalence of unfavorable outcome followed by intracranial hemorrhage.

The results of our study mentioned that most of the elderly who had accidents were pedestrian, most of which occurred in the cities. Moderate and severe head injuries in patients had unfavorable clinical outcome.