SAN FRANCISCO – Patients with trauma-related acute respiratory stress disorder (ARDS) who were on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) did not have an increased risk of mortality based on their age, according to research presented at the annual clinical congress of the American College of Surgeons.
In the study, Miseker E. Abate, MD, a resident at Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, and colleagues compared outcomes for patients who received ECMO specifically for ARDS as a result of trauma.
Dr. Abate said that this finding is important because it shows that who are aged 65 years or older.
The investigator analyzed outcomes data from the Trauma Quality Improvement Program database for patients aged 18 years or older. They compared data for those who survived ECMO with data from those who died.
The analysis included 362 patients, 62% of whom survived.
The researchers found that patients aged 65 years or older did not have an increased risk for mortality, compared with those who survived (odds ratio, 1.55; P = .432). Factors that did increase mortality risk included severe head injury (OR, 2.67; P = .008) and severe thorax injury (OR, 3.52; P less than .001).
In a finding that interested panelists, Dr. Abate reported that patients with pneumonia had a statistically significant decreased risk of mortality (OR, 0.48). This finding raised questions of etiology and pointed out the inclusion limitations of the study.
Dr. Abate had no disclosures. She discussed the importance of the age-related finding, the pneumonia survival finding, and more with MDedge at ACSCC 2019.