Effect of fluid administration on scene to traffic accident patients by EMS personnel: a propensity score-matched study using population-based ambulance records and nationwide trauma registry in Japan

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of fluid administration by emergency life-saving technicians (ELST) on the prognosis of traffic accident patients by using a propensity score (PS)-matching method. Methods: The study included traffic accident patients registered in the JTDB database from January 2016 to December 2017. The main outcome was hospital mortality, and the secondary outcome was cardiopulmonary arrest on hospital arrival (CPAOA). To reduce potential confounding effects in the comparisons between two groups, we estimated a propensity score (PS) by fitting a logistic regression model that was adjusted for 17 variables before the implementation of fluid administration by ELST at the scene. Results: During the study period, 10,908 traffic accident patients were registered in the JTDB database, and we included 3502 patients in this study. Of these patients, 142 were administered fluid by ELST and 3360 were not administered fluid by ELST. After PS matching, 141 patients were selected from each group. In the PS-matched model, fluid administration by ELST at the scene was not associated with discharge to death (crude OR: 0.859 [95% CI, 0.500–1.475]; p = 0.582). However, the fluid group showed statistically better outcome for CPAOA than the no fluid group in the multiple logistic regression model (adjusted OR: 0.231 [95% CI, 0.055–0.967]; p = 0.045). Conclusion: In this study, fluid administration to traffic accident patients by ELST was associated not with hospital mortality but with a lower proportion of CPAOA.