Public Health Impact of Hospital-Acquired Infections on Traumatic Patients

Blunt traumatic injuries leading cause of death, with TBI and hemorrhage >91% of all deaths, amounting to $37.8 billion per year. Traumatic patients are at high risk for developing infection, where infected patients are more likely to have been ventilated or have had multiple surgical procedures, exposing to ventilatorassociated pneumonia and other infections. Elevated cytokine levels post-infection affect patient mortality, making it a large public health issue. Lack of data centered around gender and ethnicity confounds the impact of this disease. Large Pittsburgh hospitals with capacity >300 report worse infection ratings than US baseline measures. Risk factors for infection including age and duration of hospital stay, directly affecting severity of traumatic injury. Infection should not be viewed as a confounder impacting mortality but rather an outcome arising from trauma.