Does Prehospital Time Influence Clinical Outcomes in Severe Trauma Patients?: A Cross Sectional Study

AbstractObjective: Prehospital time potentially impacts clinical outcomes in severely injured trauma patients. The importance of individual components, including scene and response time, however, is controversial. Our objective was to determine the impact of prehospital times on survival in severely injured patients. Methods: We reviewed injured trauma patients enrolled in a Korean EMS trauma registry during 2012. Severe trauma patients were defined as having either a “V” or lower in the AVPU system, a systolic blood pressure ≤90mmHg, or respiratory rate 29. Patients with Injury Severity Scores(ISS) < 9 were excluded. Patients were categorized by scene time into 4 groups as follows: <3 minutes, 3–6 minutes, 6–9 minutes, and ≥9 minutes and by prehospital time as follows: <16 minutes, 16–24 minutes, 24–32 minutes, and ≥32 minutes. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to adjust for possible confounders. Results: A total of 2,257 eligible patients...