Background: Trauma registries (TR) collect information about trauma patients according to inclusion criteria, and it helps to establish protocols to improve care. However, all TR deal with incompleteness. The aim of this study is to assess the number of patients not included despite fulfilling inclusion criteria in our regional TR and identifying the predictors for being missing.
Methods: The sample was randomly selected. Two months of each year from 2010 to 2014 (5 years) were selected, and medical files of all patients attended in the emergency department room during those months were studied. Patients who were already correctly included in the TR were assigned to the 'included' group, and patients who should have been but were not to the 'missing' group. The multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify predictors for being missed from the TR.
Results: Of a total of 200, 79 (40 % approximately) were identified as missing. We defined the characteristic profiles of missing patients and found that the hospital RTS and the number of injuries are independent predictors to be missing in our trauma registry, with an adjusted odds ratio of 1844 [95 % (1092-3114) and 0.574 (95 % CI 0.428-0.770)], respectively.
Conclusions: Overall, 40 % of the patients who met the inclusion criteria of the TR were not included in the registry. Our results can be generalized to other trauma records based on Utstein style, because we think probably that this fact is also happening in other databases.
Keywords: Humans; Missing patients; Trauma registries; Utstein style.