Does in-hospital trauma mortality in urban Indian academic centres differ between "office-hours" and "after-hours"?

Introduction: Trauma services within hospitals may vary considerably at different times across a 24 h period. The variable services may negatively affect the outcome of trauma victims. The current investigation aims to study the effect of arrival time of major trauma patients on mortality and morbidity.

Method: Retrospective analysis of the Australia-India Trauma Systems Collaboration (AITSC) registry established in four public university teaching centres in India Based on hospital arrival time, patients were grouped into "Office-hours" and "After-hours". Outcome parameters were compared between the above groups.

Results: 5536 (68.4%) patients presented "after-hours" (AO) and 2561 (31.6%) during "office-hours" (OH). The in-hospital mortality for "after-hours" and "office-hours" presentations were 12.1% and 11.6% respectively. On unadjusted analysis, there was no statistical difference in the odds of survival for OH versus AH presentations. (OR,1.05, 95% CI 0.9-1.2). Adjusting for potential prognostic factors (injury severity, presence of shock on arrival, referral status, sex, or extremes of age), there was no statistically significant odds of survival for OH versus AH presentations (OR,1.02, 95%CI 0.9-1.2).ICU length of stay and duration of mechanical ventilation was longer in the AH group.

Conclusion: The in-hospital mortality did not differ between trauma patients who arrived during "after-hours" compared to '"office-hours".