How’s the Weather? Relationship Between Weather and Trauma Admissions at a Level I Trauma Center

Abstract

Background

It is believed commonly that the rate of trauma admissions is affected by weather, particularly temperature.

Objective

We hypothesized that there are significant relationships between temperature and trauma admission rates.

Materials and methods

Trauma admission data (moderate-to-severe injuries as reported to the NY State Department of Health) from a Level I Trauma Center in Queens, NY were linked with archived hourly weather service data for John F. Kennedy International Airport (4.8 miles distant) from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the period January 2000–December 2009. The incidence rate ratio (IRR) of trauma admissions was analyzed by Poisson regression as a function of temperature (per 10 °F as well as other weather parameters); night shift, day of week, and month were added to the model as control variables.

Results

There were 9,490 reportable admissions over 87,144 h, (average 0.109 admissions/h). By mechanism, 7,157 (75.4 %) were blunt and 1,967 (20.7 %) were penetrating; the remainder were burns, ingestions, or unknown. By Poisson regression analysis, temperature was significantly associated with trauma admissions [IRR 1.19, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.16–1.22], and had a stronger association with penetrating trauma (IRR 1.24, 95 % CI 1.17–1.31). Precipitation, overcast sky, and snow depth were negatively associated with trauma admissions overall, but these did not reach significance for the penetrating subgroup.

Conclusions

Trauma admission rate is significantly associated with temperature. Taking weather forecasts into account may be important for planning of care provision, staffing, and resource allocation in trauma units and emergency departments.