Comparison of a Trauma Comorbidity Index with Other Measures of Comorbidities to Estimate Risk of Trauma Mortality

Abstract

Background Comorbidities influence the outcomes of injured patients, yet a lack of consensus exists regarding how to quantify that association. This study details the development and internal validation of a trauma comorbidity index (TCI) designed for use with trauma registry data and compares its performance to other existing measures to estimate the association between comorbidities and mortality. Methods Indiana state trauma registry data (2013-2015) was used to compare the TCI with the Charlson and Elixhauser comorbidity indices, a count of comorbidities, and comorbidities as separate variables. The TCI approach utilized a randomly selected training cohort and was internally validated in a distinct testing cohort. The C-statistic of the adjusted models was tested using each comorbidity measure in the testing cohort to assess model discrimination. C-statistics were compared using a Wald test, and stratified analyses were performed based on predicted risk of mortality. Multiple imputation was used to address missing data. Results The study included 84,903 patients (50% each in training and testing cohorts). The Indiana TCI model demonstrated no significant difference between testing and training cohorts (p = 0.33). It produced a C-statistic of 0.924 in the testing cohort, which was significantly greater than that of models using the other indices (p < 0.05). The C-statistics of models using the Indiana TCI and the inclusion of comorbidities as separate variables – the method used by the American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality Improvement Program – were comparable (p = 0.11) but use of the TCI approach reduced the number of comorbidity-related variables in the mortality model from 19 to one. Conclusions When examining trauma mortality, the TCI approach using Indiana state trauma registry data demonstrated superior model discrimination and/or parsimony compared to other measures of comorbidities.