Comparison of Preventable Trauma Death Rates in Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury Before and After the Establishment of Regional Trauma Center: A Single Center Experience

OBJECTIVE: To compare preventable trauma death rates (PTDRs) in patients with traumatic brain injury before and after the establishment of a regional trauma center (RTC) at a single center. METHODS: Our institution established an RTC in 2014. A total of 709 patients were enrolled from January 2011 to December 2013 (before RTC) and 672 from January 2019 to December 2021 (after RTC). The revised trauma score, injury severity score, and trauma and injury severity score (TRISS) were evaluated. Definitive preventable (DP), possibly preventable (PP), and non-preventable deaths were defined as TRISS >0.5, TRISS 0.25–0.5, and TRISS <0.25, respectively. PTDR was the proportion of deaths from DP+PP out of all deaths, and the preventable major trauma death rate (PMTDR) was the proportion of deaths from DP+PP out of all DP+PP. RESULTS: The overall mortality rates before and after the establishment of RTC were 20.3 and 13.1%, respectively. PTDR was lower after the establishment of RTC than before (90.3% vs. 79.5%). The PMTDR was also lower after the establishment of RTC than before (18.8% vs. 9.7%). The ratio of direct hospital visits was higher in patients before the establishment of RTC than in those after (74.9% vs. 61.3%, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Establishing the RTC reduced PTDRs. Additional studies on factors associated with PTDR reduction are required.