Major trauma in West Virginia dementia patients injury patterns, discharge dispositions and implications for treatment and injury prevention.

Our study examines injury patterns, treatment implications, discharge disposition, and injury prevention for trauma patients with dementia. It is a retrospective observational study of trauma patients at the Jon Michael Moore Trauma Center at West Virginia University Hospitals. Causes of injury, injuries sustained, and discharge disposition were examined in 286 trauma patients with a pre-existing diagnosis of dementia and 5,865 trauma patients without dementia. All patients included in this study were 40 years of age or older. Injury data were compiled for patients with dementia. Causes of injury and discharge disposition were compared for the two groups.