Prehospital Intubation Does Not Decrease Complications in the Penetrating Trauma Patient

Abstract

Intubation in the prehospital setting does not result in a survival benefit in penetrating trauma. However, the effect of prehospital intubation (PHI) on the development of in-hospital complications has yet to be determined. The goal of this study was to determine if PHI in patients with penetrating trauma results in reduced mortality and in-hospital complications. Patient records for all Category 1 trauma activations as a result of penetrating injury admitted to our institution from 2006 to 2010 were reviewed. There were 1615 Category 1 trauma activations with 152 (9.8%) intubated in the field. A total of 1311 survived initial resuscitative efforts to permit hospital admission with 55 (4.2%) being intubated in the field. For patients surviving to admission, prehospital intubation was associated with increased mortality (hazard ratio, 8.266; 95% confidence interval [CI, 4.336 to 15.758; P < 0.001). After correcting for Injury Severity Score, PHI was not protective against pulmonary complications (odds ratio [OR], 0.724; 95% CI, 0.229 to 2.289; P = 0.582), deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolus (OR, 0.838; 95% CI, 0.281 to 2.494; P = 0.750), sepsis (OR, 0.572; 95% CI, 0.201 to 1.633; P = 0.297), wound infections (OR, 1.739; 95% CI, 0.630 to 4.782; P = 0.286), or complications of any kind (OR, 1.020; 95% CI, 0.480 to 2.166; P = 0.959). For victims of penetrating trauma, immediate transportation by emergency medical personnel may result in improved outcomes.