Factors Affecting Outcomes in Geriatric Traumatic Subdural Hematoma in a Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Geriatric patients (age ≥65 years) who sustain a traumatic brain injury have an increased risk of poor outcomes and higher mortality compared with younger cohorts. We aimed to evaluate the risk factors for discharge outcomes in a geriatric traumatic subdural hematoma population, stratified by age and pretraumatic medical comorbidities. This was a single-center retrospective cohort study of geriatric patients (N= 207). Patient charts were evaluated for factors including patient characteristics, comorbidities, injury-related and seizure-related factors, neurosurgical intervention, and patient disposition on discharge. Bivariate and multivariate analyses showed that age was nonpredictive of patient outcomes. Underlying vasculopathic comorbidities were the primary determinant of posttraumatic seizure, surgical, and discharge outcomes. Multifactor analysis showed that patients who went on to develop status epilepticus (n= 11) had a higher frequency of vasculopathic comorbidities with strong predictive power in poor patient outcomes. Our findings suggest a need to establish unique prognostic risk factors based on patient outcomes that guide medical and surgical treatment in geriatric patients.