Insurance Status of Gunshot Trauma Patients Affects Mortality Outcomes

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100315125555.htm

ScienceDaily (Mar. 15, 2010) — New research findings published in the March issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons indicate that despite similar injury severity, uninsured patients were significantly more likely to die after hospital admission for gunshot injury than were insured patients. This difference could not be attributed to demographics or hospital resource use, and held true even after adjusting for the effects of race, age, gender, and injury severity.

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The in-hospital mortality rate for uninsured patients was nine percent versus six percent for insured patients (p=0.02). Even after adjusting for age, gender, race and injury severity with logistic regression analysis, the odds of dying from a gunshot trauma were 2.2 times greater for uninsured patients in comparison with insured patients.

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