Evaluation of emergency department admissions of mass casualty patients using the revised trauma score, injury severity score, and trauma and injury severity score

BACKGROUND: There is a need for studies evaluating prognostic scoring systems in mass trauma patients in conflict regions to predict patient prognosis for emergency surgical prioritization. In this study, we aimed to evaluate scoring systems such as the Revised Trauma Score (RTS), Injury Severity Score (ISS), and Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) in trauma patients admitted due to mass trauma in Northern Syria. METHODS: This study was a retrospective evaluation of patients admitted due to mass trauma to the emergency departments of hospitals in Northern Syria. The diagnostic efficiency of RTS, ISS, and TRISS scoring systems was evaluated in these admissions in the first half of 2021. RESULTS: The most common causes of mass trauma were bomb blast (67.3%), gunshot (28.8%), and 14 (3.9%) patients admitted with other causes. When the odds ratio (OR) was analyzed, a one-unit increase in the RTS score increased the odds of survival by a factor of 6.133, and a one-unit increase in the TRISS score increased the odds of survival by a factor of 1.057. Differently, it was found that each 1-unit increase in ISS decreased the patient's probability of survival by 0.856 units. When RTS, TRISS, and ISS scores were analyzed, the area under the ROC curve was statistically significant for all of them (p<0.001) and all of them had a diagnostic value for mortality with sensitivities of 99.0%, 94.8%, and 91.9%; specificities of 87.8%, 90.5%, and 88.6; AUC of 0.958, 0.975, and 0.958, respectively. CONCLUSION: The use of trauma scoring systems, especially TRISS, may be useful for prioritizing patients in mass casualty settings in the presence of overcapacity.