Is state trauma funding associated with mortality among injured hospitalized patients?

Background: We sought to quantify the association between state trauma funding and (1) in-hospital mortality and (2) transfers of injured patients.

Methods: We conducted an observational cross-sectional study of states with publicly available trauma funding data. We analyzed in-hospital mortality using linked data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey, and these State Department of Public Health trauma funding data.

Results: A total of 594,797 injured adult patients were admitted to acute care hospitals in 17 states. Patients in states with >$1.00 per capita state trauma funding had 0.82 (95 ​% CI: 0.78-0.85, p ​< ​0.001) decreased adjusted odds of in-hospital mortality compared to patients in states with less than $1.00 per capita state trauma funding.

Conclusions: Increased state trauma funding is associated with decreased adjusted in-hospital mortality.