Comparison of Revised Trauma Score, Injury Severity Score and Trauma and Injury Severity Score for mortality prediction in elderly trauma patients

BACKGROUND: Trauma is the fifth leading cause of death in patients 65 years and older. This study is a comparison of results of Revised Trauma Score (RTS), Injury Severity Score (ISS), and Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) in prediction of mortality in cases of geriatric trauma. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study of records of 352 elderly trauma patients who were admitted to Pour-Sina Hospital in Rasht between 2010 and 2011. Injury scoring systems were compared in terms of specificity, sensitivity, and cut-off points using receiver operating characteristic curve of patient prognosis. RESULTS: Mean age of patients was 71.5 years. Most common mechanism of injury was traffic accident (53.7%). Of the total, 13.9% of patients died. Mean ISS was higher for patients who did not survive. Mean of TRISS and RTS scores in elderly survivors was higher than non-survivors and difference in all 3 scores was statistically significant (p<0.001). Best cut-off points for predicting mortality in elderly trauma patients in RTS, ISS, and TRISS systems were <= 6, >= 13.5, and <= 2, with sensitivity of 99%, 84%, and 95% and specificity of 62%, 62%, and 72%, respectively. CONCLUSION: TRISS was the strongest predictor of mortality in elderly trauma patients as result of combination of both anatomical and physiological parameters.