Investigation of the factors affecting the prognosis in elderly patients wi̇th HEAD trauma

Background: Head trauma in geriatric patients is a health problem that causes significant morbidity, mortality and economic losses. To detect intracranial pathologies which may be life-threatening or cause severe morbidity with head trauma patients over the age of 65, should be included tasks that should be carefully stand on the emergency physicians. Aim: We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of pathologic findings on computed tomography in patients who were diagnosed with head trauma over 65 years of age and to evaluate hematologic factors affecting prognosis in geriatric head trauma patients in our study. As well as the contribution of epidemiological data to our country on geriatric head trauma in order to determine the parameters that increase the length of hospital stay in these patients. Method: Patients older than 65 years who were admitted to Dumlupınar University Evliya Çelebi Training and Research Hospital Emergency Department due to head trauma and who underwent computed tomography examination were retrospectively reviewed in our study. The cases we included in our study were recorded as age, gender, trauma mechanism, coagulopathy, brain tomography results, leukocyte count, neutrophil / lymphocyte ratio (NLO), platelet / lymphocyte ratio (PLO), discharge, hospitalization, referral. Results: Of the 320 patients included in the study, 151 were males and 169 were females. The most frequent causes of head trauma in the geriatric population were falls (37.2%) and traffic accidents (18.8%) were the most common causes (56%). The number of patients with abnormal brain CT findings in patients with head trauma over 65 years was 34, and abnormal brain CT prevalence was 10.6% in geriatric head trauma. This ratio was not significantly different between the groups of early aged (65-74 years), middle aged (75-84 years) and late aged (85 years and over). Of the 320 patients included in the study, 7 were ex-mortem, and the mortality rate for geriatric head trauma was 2.2%. Leukocytosis, elevated neutrophil / lymphocyte ratio, coagulopathy and late aging over 75 years were found to be factors that increased morbidity and mortality. Conclusion: Head trauma following a fall or a traffic accident, leukocytosis, high neutrophil / lymphocyte ratio, late aged patients (75 years and over) increase the risk of intracranial pathology in geriatric head trauma. It is a rational approach to question aging, trauma mechanism and severity, to keep indications of blood collection and computed tomography, to extend the time of emergency service observation and to receive consultant physician support while evaluating head trauma geriatric patients for emergency care. Keywords: Geriatric head trauma, neutrophil / lymphocyte ratio, platelet / lymphocyte ratio, INR, Computerized Tomography, Mortality