Mortality after trauma intubation without drugs in Scottish emergency departments.

Background: Trauma patients who are intubated without anaesthetic drugs in the pre-hospital phase of care have universally poor outcomes. This study aimed to determine the mortality of trauma patients intubated without drugs in emergency departments in Scotland.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study used the prospective Scottish Trauma Audit Group (STAG) database to identify how many patients were intubated and how many required drugs for intubation between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2002. The mortality of those intubated with drugs and without drugs was determined from the database.

Results: 24,756 patients were included in the STAG database. There were 1469 intubations: 1287 with drugs and 182 without drugs. 92.5% of all intubations were for blunt trauma. There was no difference in the proportion of males or median age between groups. Median GCS was 8 (E1M5V2) in the drugs group and 3 (E1M1V1) in the no drugs group (p<0.001). Median ISS was higher in those intubated without drugs (33 versus 25, p<0.001). Median RTS and probability of survival were lower in those intubated without drugs (both p<0.001). Mortality was higher in those intubated without drugs (91.2% versus 29.4%, p<0.001). Sixteen patients, intubated without drugs, survived. These patients had a higher median respiratory rate (9 versus 0, p=0.013) and higher median systolic blood pressure (80 mmHg versus 0 mmHg, p=0.041) than non-survivors.

Conclusion: Trauma patients in Scottish emergency departments who are intubated without drugs have high mortality rates. Outcomes are not universally fatal and aggressive resuscitation efforts may be of benefit to a small number of such patients.