Prehospital Combat Wound Medication Pack Administration in Iraq and Afghanistan: A Department of Defense Trauma Registry Analysis.

BACKGROUND

The United States (US) military utilizes combat wound medication packs (CWMP) to provide analgesia and wound prophylaxis in casualties who are still able to fight. We compared characteristics of combat casualties receiving CWMP to those not receiving CWMP. We also describe the proportions of casualties with injury patterns consistent with Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) guideline indications for CWMP use who received this intervention.

METHODS

This is a secondary analysis of Department of a Defense Trauma Registry (DODTR) dataset of US military personnel from January 2007 to August 2016. We searched for all subjects with documented use of at least one medication from the CWMP (acetaminophen, meloxicam, moxifloxacin).

RESULTS

Within our dataset, 11,665 casualties were US military Servicemembers. Overall, <1% (84) of our study population received the CWMP. The median age and mechanism of injuries were similar between CWMP nonrecipients versus recipients. Median composite injury scores were higher for nonrecipients than recipients (6 versus 4, P < .001). Proportions of casualties with injury patterns meeting TCCC guideline CWMP indications who received this intervention were low: gunshot wound, <1% (14 of 1805), tourniquet applied, <1% (11 of 1912), major amputation, <1% (5 of 803), and open fracture, <1% (10 of 2425). Based on serious injuries by body region, we had similar findings for the thorax (<1%; 3 of 1122), abdomen (<1%; 1 of 736), and extremities (<1%; 11 of 2699).

CONCLUSIONS

Subjects receiving the CWMP were less severely injured compared to those who did not receive this intervention. The CWMP had very infrequent use among those casualties with injury patterns meeting indications specified in the TCCC Guidelines for use of this intervention.