Studies from School of Medicine Further Understanding of Public Health (Adult and elderly population access to trauma centers: an ecological analysis…

Ecology, Environment & Conservation

Studies from School of Medicine Further Understanding of Public Health (Adult and elderly population access to trauma centers: an ecological analysis evaluating the relationship between injury-related mortality and geographic proximity in the ...)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Ecology, Environment & Conservation -- Current study results on Health and Medicine - Public Health have been published. According to news reporting originating from Norfolk, Virginia, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "Ongoing development and expansion of trauma centers in the United States necessitates empirical analysis of the effect of investment in such resources on population-level health outcomes. Multiple linear regressions were performed to predict state-level trauma-related mortality among adults and the elderly across 50 US states in 2010."

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the School of Medicine, "The number of trauma centers per capita in each state and the percentage of each state's population living within 45-min of a trauma center served as the key independent variables and injury-related mortality served as the dependent variable. All analyses were stratified by age (adult versus elderly; elderly greater than or equal to 65 years old) and were performed in SPSS. The proportion of a population with geographic proximity to a trauma center demonstrates a consistent inverse linear relationship to injury-related mortality. The relationship reliably retains its significance in models including demographic covariates. Interestingly, access to Levels I and II trauma centers demonstrates a stronger correlation with mortality than was observed with Level III centers. Trauma center access is associated with reduced trauma-related mortality among both adults and the elderly as measured by state reported mortality rates."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Ongoing efforts to designate and verify new trauma centers, particularly in poorly-served 'trauma deserts', could lead to lower mortality for large populations."

For more information on this research see: Adult and elderly population access to trauma centers: an ecological analysis evaluating the relationship between injury-related mortality and geographic proximity in the United States in 2010. Journal of Public Health, 2017;():1-10. (Oxford University Press - www.oup.com/; Journal of Public Health - jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting B.K. Dodson, Eastern Virginia Medical School, School of Medicine, Norfolk, VA 23501, United States. Additional authors for this research include M. Braswell, A.P. David, J.S. Young, L.M. Riccio, Y. Kim and J.F Calland.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdx156. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Norfolk, Ecology, Virginia, United States, Public Health, Health and Medicine, North and Central America.