The delayed detection of an acute neurological worsening increases traumatic brain injury lethality.

Introduction

Traumatic brain injury is a leading worldwide cause of death and disability in young people. Severity classification is based on the Glasgow Coma Scale. However, the neurological worsening in an acute setting does not always correspond to the initial severity suggesting an underestimation of the real magnitude of the injury.

Objective

To study the correlation between the initial severity according to the Glasgow Coma Scale and the patient outcome in the context of different clinical and tomography variables. Materials and methods: We analyzed a retrospective cohort of 490 patients with closed traumatic brain injury requiring a stay in the intensive care unit of two third-level hospitals in Barranquilla. The risk was estimated by calculating the OR (95% CI). The significance level was established at an alpha value of 0.05.

Results

Forty-one percent of all patients required orotracheal intubation; 51.2% were initially classified with moderate trauma and 6,0% as mild. The delay in the aggressive management of the traumas affected mainly those patients with traumas classified as moderate in whom lethality increased to 100% when there was delay in the detection of the neurological worsening and in the establishment of the aggressive treatment beyond 4 to 8 hours while the lethality in patients who received this treatment within the first hour reduced to <20%.

Conclusions

The risk of lethality in traumatic brain injury increases with the delayed detection of neurological worsening in an acute setting, especially when aggressive management is performed after the first hour post-trauma.