Comorbidity-polypharmacy scoring facilitates outcome prediction in older trauma patients.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the association between comorbidity-polypharmacy score (CPS) and clinical outcomes in a large sample of older trauma patients, focusing on outcome prognostication.

DESIGN: The CPS combines number of preinjury medications and comorbidities to more objectively quantify the severity of comorbid conditions.

SETTING: An urban tertiary care level 1 trauma center in the Midwest.

PARTICIPANTS: Trauma patients aged 45 and older.

METHODS: Participants were stratified into four groups according to CPS ranges. Survival analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier/Mantel-Cox testing. Factors influencing mortality, complications, and survivor discharge destination were evaluated using analysis of covariance and multivariate logistic regression.

RESULTS: Records for 469 individuals (mean age 62.1, mean injury severity score 9.3) were reviewed. Higher CPS is associated with greater mortality, complications, longer hospital and intensive care unit stay, and need for discharge to a facility. Higher CPS is associated with lower 90-day survival (Mantel-Cox, P < .001). Mortality was independently associated with older age (odds ratio (OR) = 1.06 per year), higher injury severity score (OR = 1.19 per point), and higher CPS (OR = 1.11 per point) in multivariate analysis (all P < .01). Complications and need for discharge to a facility were independently associated with older age and higher injury severity score and CPS.

CONCLUSION: CPS can be readily determined in the era of medication reconciliation. Trauma patients with CPS of 15 or greater are at greater risk of poor clinical outcomes. CPS constitutes a useful adjunct to currently available injury severity scoring tools as a predictor of morbidity, mortality, hospital resource utilization, and postdischarge disposition in older trauma patients.