Background/purpose: Researchers are constantly challenged to identify optimal mortality risk adjustment methodologies that perform accurately in pediatric trauma patients. This study evaluated the new Trauma Mortality Prediction Model (TMPM-ICD-9) in pediatric trauma patients.
Methods: Data were analyzed on 107,104 pediatric trauma patients included in the NTDB® in 2010 who had both a valid ISS and probability of death using TMPM-ICD-9. Discrimination was compared using the area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUC) and by age, blunt vs penetrating, intent, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), and number of injuries.
Results: The AUC for TMPM-ICD-9 demonstrated excellent discrimination in predicting mortality versus ISS overall, 11 to 17years of age (0.96 vs 0.93), by injury type, intent, and in the lowest GCS scores. The TMPM-ICD-9 showed superior discrimination over ISS in patients with more than two injuries.
Conclusions: The TMPM demonstrated superior discrimination compared to ISS. The TMPM shows promise of a much needed and simple to use risk adjustment tool with application to both adult and pediatric patients. Researchers should continue to validate this tool in robust pediatric data sets.
Keywords: Injury severity score; NTDB; Pediatric trauma; TMPM-ICD-9.
© 2014.