View article

BACKGROUND: Admission platelet (PLT) counts are known to be associated with all‐cause mortality for seriously injured patients admitted to a trauma center. The course of subsequent PLT counts, their implications, and the effects of PLT therapy are less well known.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Trauma center patients who were directly admitted from the scene of injury, received 1 or more units of uncrossmatched red blood cells in the first hour of care, survived for at least 15 minutes, and had a PLT count measured in the first hour were analyzed for the association of their admission and subsequent PLT counts in the first 24 hours with injury severity and hemorrhagic and central nervous system (CNS) causes of in‐hospital mortality.

RESULTS: Over an 8.25‐year period, 1292 of 45,849 direct trauma admissions met entry criteria. Admission PLT counts averaged 228 × 10⁹ ± 90 × 10⁹/L and decreased …