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Investigators at Oulu University zero in on life sciences
November 6th, 2009
Research findings, 'Improved outcome after trauma care in university-level intensive care units,' are discussed in a new report. "Centralized trauma care has been shown to be associated with improved patient outcome. We compared the outcomes of trauma patients in relation to the size of the intensive care unit (ICU) using a large Finnish database," investigators in Oulu, Finland report. "A national prospectively collected ICU data registry was used for analysis. All adult trauma admissions excluding isolated head trauma and burns registered from July 1999 to December 2006 were analyzed. Data from 22 ICUs were available. The non-university-affiliated units were categorized according to the number of beds and referral population as small, mid size and large. Acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE II)-and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA)-adjusted mortalities were compared between the units. There were 2067 trauma admissions that fulfilled the inclusion criteria; 38% were treated in the university hospitals, 26% in large non-teaching ICUs, 20% in mid size ICUs and 15% in small ICUs. The crude hospital mortality was 5.6%, being 4.7% in university ICU and 6.6% in mid size ICU. In two subgroup analyses of severely ill trauma patients with APACHE II points >25 or SOFA score >8 points, respectively, hospital mortality was significantly lower in university ICUs. University-level hospitals were associated with better outcomes with critically ill trauma patients," wrote T.I. Ala-Kokko and colleagues, Oulu University. The researchers concluded: "These results can be used in planning future organization of trauma patient care in Finland." Ala-Kokko and colleagues published their study in Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica (Improved outcome after trauma care in university-level intensive care units. Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica, 2009;53(10):1251-6). For additional information, contact T.I. Ala-Kokko, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu University Hospital, Division of Intensive Care, Oulu, Finland. The publisher of the journal Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica can be contacted at: Blackwell Publishing Inc., 350 Main St., Malden, MA 02148, USA. Keywords: Finland, Oulu, Life Sciences, Craniocerebral Trauma, Physiology. This article was prepared by NewsRx editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2009, NewsRx.com.
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