926 End of Life Decision-Making Inequities for Pediatric Patients With Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The decision to withdraw life sustaining treatment (WLST) for pediatric patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is challenging for clinicians and families with limited evidence quantifying existing practices. METHODS: This retrospective study utilized data collected from trauma centers through the American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality Improvement Program between 2017-2020. We included pediatric patients (<19 years) with severe TBI and a documented decision for WLST. We utilized a random intercept multilevel logistic regression model to quantify patient, injury and hospital characteristics influencing WLST. In order to quantify the impact of disparate WLST practices on mortality, we ranked centers by their conditional random intercept computed quartile-specific adjusted mortality. RESULTS: We identified a total of 9803 children with severe TBI treated across 515 trauma centers, of which 1003 (10.2%) had WLST. Patient-level factors associated with increased likelihood of WLST were young age (<3 years), higher severity intracranial and extracranial injuries and mechanism of injury related to firearms. Following adjustment for patient and hospital attributes, the median odds ratio was 1.54 (95% CI: 1.50-1.57), reflecting residual variation in WLST between centers. When centers were grouped into quartiles by their propensity for WLST, adjusted mortality was higher for fourth compared to first quartile centers (OR 1.67, 95% CI: 1.47-1.90). CONCLUSIONS: Several patient and injury factors were associated with WLST decision-making for pediatric patients with severe TBI. We also showed variation in WLST practices between trauma centers after adjustment for case mix; these differences were associated with differing quartile-specific adjusted mortality rates. Taken together, these findings highlight the presence of care provision inequities among North American trauma centers regarding WLST practice patterns for pediatric patients with severe TBI.