20 years of trauma documentation in Germany—Actual trends and developments

IntroductionThe TraumaRegister DGU® has been founded 20 years ago. Although initially supported by larger hospitals and universities, it has recently become a representative registry for the care of severely injured patients in Germany. Based on the registry data some important trends and developments of the recent decades are presented.Patients and methodsGerman trauma patients with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) ≥ 16 were eligible if primary admitted from the scene. All cases documented between 1993 and 2012 (20 years) were eligible. For selected variables, an average change per years was calculated using linear regression analysis.ResultsA total of 49,801 patients was analysed. The mean age was 46.3 years, and 72% were males. The following relevant trends could be observed: The average age increased dramatically from 38 to 50 years. Pre-hospital intubation rate was halfed in patients with Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) > 8 but remained constant in unconscious patients (GCS ≤ 8; 90% intubation rate). Pre-hospital volume administration decreased as well, which led to less blood transfusions (from 45% to 16%). The use of helicopters for transportation into a trauma centre decreased as well but today still 27% of all cases are transported by air. Whole-body CT was performed in about 80% of patients; this value is stable in the last four years. Hospital mortality could be reduced and was 2–3% lower than expected in recent years. The Revised Injury Severity Classification (RISC) score used as a reference here was based on TR-DGU data from the 1990s.ConclusionStandardised prospective registration of severely injured patients over 20 years allows to empirically monitor trends and developments in acute trauma care.