Trauma in Older Adults
With Dr. Zara Cooper
Older adults who suffer traumatic injuries have worse outcomes than younger patients. In this episode Dr. Zara Cooper (acute care and trauma surgeon at Brigham and Women’s hospital) and I discuss some of the reasons for this, and also ways to avoid missing injuries in older adults. Falls are the most common cause of trauma in older patients, and understanding how falls are a geriatric syndrome can help you understand how to help prevent future falls.
References
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- Filer W, Harris M. Falls and traumatic brain injury among older adults. N C Med J. 2015;76(2):111-114. doi: 76212
- Thompson HJ, McCormick WC, Kagan SH. Traumatic brain injury in older adults: Epidemiology, outcomes, and future implications. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2006;54(10):1590-1595. doi: JGS894
- LeBlanc J, de Guise E, Gosselin N, Feyz M. Comparison of functional outcome following acute care in young, middle-aged and elderly patients with traumatic brain injury. Brain Inj. 2006;20(8):779-790. doi: J01222288L4N2014
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- Harvey LA, Close JC. Traumatic brain injury in older adults: Characteristics, causes and consequences. Injury. 2012;43(11):1821-1826. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2012.07.188 [doi].
- Bulger EM, Arneson MA, Mock CN, Jurkovich GJ. Rib fractures in the elderly. J Trauma. 2000;48(6):1040-6; PMID 10866248
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- Bulger EM, Edwards T, Klotz P, Jurkovich GJ. Epidural analgesia improves outcome after multiple rib fractures. Surgery. 2004;136(2):426-430. PMID 15300210
- Carrier FM, Turgeon AF, Nicole PC, et al. Effect of epidural analgesia in patients with traumatic rib fractures: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Can J Anaesth. 2009;56(3):230-242. PMID 19247744
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- Haentjens P, Magaziner J, Colon-Emeric CS, et al. Meta-analysis: Excess mortality after hip fracture among older women and men. Ann Intern Med. 2010;152(6):380-390.
- Peck et al. Death after discharge: predictors of mortality in older brain injured patients. J Trauma Acute Care Surg 77;6, 2014
- Tinetti ME, Inouye SK, Gill TM, et al. Shared risk factors for falls, incontinence, and functional dependence. Unifying the approach to geriatric syndromes. JAMA 1995;273(3):1348–1353.
- ACEP guidelines on TBI Neuroimaging and Decisionmaking 2008 http://www.acep.org/MobileArticle.aspx?id=48423&coll_id=618&parentid=
- Zia et al. Polypharmacy and falls in older people: Balancing evidence-based medicine against falls risk. Postgrad Med 2015127 (3)
- De Jong et al. Drug-related falls in older patients: implicated drugs, consequences and possible prevention strategies. 2013 Ther Adv Drug Saf 4(4)
- Woolcott et al. Meta-analysis of the Impact of 9 Medication Classes on Falls in Elderly Persons. 2009 JAMA Int Med 169(21)
- The MRC CRASH Trial Collaborators. Predicting outcome after traumatic brain injury: practical prognostic models based on large cohort of international patients. BMJ 2008 http://www.crash.lshtm.ac.uk/Risk%20calculator/index.html
- Heffernan D, Thakkar R, Monaghan S, et al. Normal presenting vital signs are unreliable in geriatric blunt trauma victims. J Trauma. 2010;69(4):813-820. [PubMed]
- Salottolo K, Mains C, Offner P, Bourg P, Bar-Or D. A retrospective analysis of geriatric trauma patients: venous lactate is a better predictor of mortality than traditional vital signs. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2013;21:7. [PubMed]
- Neville A, Nemtsev D, Manasrah R, Bricker S, Putnam B. Mortality risk stratification in elderly trauma patients based on initial arterial lactate and base deficit levels. Am Surg. 2011;77(10):1337-1341. [PubMed]
- Martin J, Alkhoury F, O’Connor J, Kyriakides T, Bonadies J. “Normal” vital signs belie occult hypoperfusion in geriatric trauma patients. Am Surg. 2010;76(1):65-69. [PubMed]
- Callaway D, Shapiro N, Donnino M, Baker C, Rosen C. Serum lactate and base deficit as predictors of mortality in normotensive elderly blunt trauma patients. J Trauma. 2009;66(4):1040-1044. [PubMed]
- Eastridge B, Salinas J, McManus J, et al. Hypotension begins at 110 mm Hg: redefining “hypotension” with data. J Trauma. 2007;63(2):291-7; discussion 297-9. [PubMed]
This podcast uses sounds from freesound.org by Jobro and HerbertBoland.
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Dr. Christina Shenvi is an associate professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of North Carolina. She is fellowship-trained in Geriatric Emergency Medicine and is the founder of GEMCast. She is the director of the UNC Office of Academic Excellence, president of the Association of Professional Women in Medical Sciences, co-directs the ACEP/CORD Teaching Fellowship, is on the Annals of EM editorial board, is on the Geriatric ED Accreditation board of governors, and she teaches and writes about time management at timeforyourlife.org.