Publications (2)3.73 Total impact
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Article: The distribution of survival times after injury.
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ABSTRACT: The distribution of survival times after injury has been described as "trimodal," but several studies have not confirmed this. The purpose of this study was to clarify the distribution of survival times after injury. We defined survival time (t(s)) as the interval between injury time and declared death time. We constructed histograms for t(s) ≤ 150 min from the 2004-2007 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS, for traffic crashes) and National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS, for homicides). We estimated statistical models in which death times known only within intervals were treated as interval-censored. For confirmation, we also obtained EMS response times (t(r)), prehospital times (t(p)), and hospital times (t(h)) for decedents in the 2008 National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) with t(s) = t(p) + t(h) ≤ 150. We approximated times until circulatory arrest (t(x)) as t(r) for patients pulseless at the injury scene, t(p) for other patients pulseless at hospital admission, and t(s) for the rest; for any declared t(s), we calculated mean t(x)/t(s). We used this ratio to estimate t(x) for hospital deaths in FARS or NVDRS and provide independent support for using interval-censored methods. FARS and NVDRS deaths were most frequent in the first few minutes. Both showed a second peak at 35-40 min after injury, corresponding to peaks in hospital deaths. Third peaks were not present. Estimated t(x) in FARS and NVDRS did not show second peaks and were similar to estimates treating some death times as interval-censored. Increases in frequency of survival times at 35-40 min are primarily artifacts created because declaration of death in hospitals is delayed until completing resuscitative attempts. By avoiding these artifacts, interval censoring methods are useful for analysis of injury survival times.World Journal of Surgery 03/2012; 36(7):1562-70. · 2.36 Impact Factor -
Article: A half-century of burn epidemiology and burn care in a rural state.
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ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to quantify the changes in incidence, severity, and mortality in burn injuries in the state of Maine over the past 50 years from both prevention and treatment perspectives. The authors analyzed the data from multiple sources, including the U.S. Census, death certificates, hospital discharge abstracts, and institutional burn registries in Maine and Boston. The average annual number of burn-related deaths decreased from 53 in 1960-1964 to 14 in 2004-2008. The Maine age-adjusted rate of burn deaths was 8.6% above the national rate in 1960 and 1.4% below it in 2006. The annual number of burn patients admitted to Maine hospitals declined by 65% from 1978 to 2009. Since 1999, 12% of hospitalized patients in Maine were treated in an American Burn Association-certified burn center in Boston. Mortality for Maine burn patients, including those treated at Boston hospitals, is directly related to age and burn severity and similar to stratified mortality in the National Burn Repository. Incidence, severity, and mortality of burn injuries in Maine have decreased dramatically over the past 5 decades. Prevention programs, legislation, and a regionalized system of burn care have all likely contributed to bringing Maine's morbidity and mortality rate below the national average.Journal of burn care & research: official publication of the American Burn Association 11/2011; 33(3):347-53. · 1.37 Impact Factor
