Mechanisms of traumatic injury by demographic characteristics: an 8-year review of temporal trends from the National Trauma Data Bank.

Background/purpose: This 8-year retrospective study of the National Trauma Data Bank describes temporal trends of traumatic injury by mechanism of injury (MOI) by demographic characteristics from 2012 to 2019 for adult patients 18 years and older.

Methods: Overall, 5 630 461 records were included after excluding those with missing demographic information and International Classification of Disease codes. MOIs were calculated as proportions of total injury by year. Temporal trends of MOI were evaluated using two-sided non-parametric Mann-Kendall trend tests for (1) all patients and (2) within racial and ethnic groups (ie, Asian, 2% of total patient sample; Black, 14%; Hispanic or Latino, 10%; Multiracial, 3%; Native American, <1%; Pacific Islander, <1%; White, 69%) and stratified by age and sex.

Results/outcomes: For all patients, falls increased over time (p=0.001), whereas burn (p<0.01), cut/pierce (p<0.01), cyclist (p=0.01), machinery (p<0.001), motor vehicle transport (MVT) motorcyclist (p<0.001), MVT occupant (p<0.001) and other blunt trauma (p=0.03) injuries decreased over time. The proportion of falls increased across all racial and ethnic groups and significantly for those aged 65 and older. There were further differences in decreasing trends of MOI by racial and ethnic categories and by age groups.

Conclusions: These results suggest that falls are an important injury prevention target with an ageing US population across all racial and ethnic groups. Differing injury profiles by racial and ethnic identity indicate that injury prevention efforts be designed accordingly and targeted specifically to individuals most at risk for specific MOIs.

Study Type: Level I, prognostic/epidemiological.