Trauma center, patient and injury characteristics, and TT details by antibiotics status
| No antibiotics* | Antibiotics* | P value† | |||
| N | 1615 | (85.6) | 272 | (14.4) | |
| Age | 45 | (27, 59.5) | 34 | (24, 54) | <0.01 |
| Male | 1249 | (77.3) | 214 | (78.7) | 0.68 |
| Mechanism of injury | |||||
| Blunt | 1207 | (74.7) | 162 | (59.6) | <0.01 |
| Penetrating | 408 | (25.3) | 110 | (40.4) | |
| GCS on arrival | |||||
| Mild (13-15) | 1157 | (71.6) | 210 | (77.2) | 0.12 |
| Moderate (9-12) | 78 | (4.8) | 8 | (2.9) | |
| Severe (≤8) | 380 | (23.5) | 54 | (19.9) | |
| Intubation | 761 | (47.1) | 100 | (36.8) | <0.01 |
| ISS | |||||
| 0–14 | 727 | (45) | 117 | (43) | 0.80 |
| 16–24 | 420 | (26) | 75 | (27.6) | |
| 25+ | 468 | (29) | 80 | (29.4) | |
| Indication for TT placement | |||||
| Hemothorax | 313 | (19.4) | 60 | (22.1) | 0.15 |
| Pneumothorax | 788 | (48.8) | 141 | (51.8) | |
| HPTX | 514 | (31.8) | 71 | (26.1) | |
| TT provider | |||||
| Attending | 273 | (16.9) | 34 | (12.5) | 0.02 |
| Other | 1172 | (72.6) | 231 | (84.9) | |
| Unknown | 170 | (10.5) | 7 | (2.6) | |
| TT location | |||||
| Emergency Department /trauma bay | 1184 | (73.3) | 198 | (72.8) | <0.01 |
| Floor | 54 | (3.3) | 4 | (1.5) | |
| ICU | 211 | (13.1) | 28 | (10.3) | |
| Operating room | 113 | (7) | 41 | (15.1) | |
| Unknown | 53 | (3.3) | 1 | (0.4) | |
| Trauma center designation | |||||
| American College of Surgeons verified trauma center | 458 | (28.4) | 53 | (19.5) | 0.01 |
| State | 34 | (2.1) | 5 | (1.8) | |
| Both | 1123 | (69.5) | 214 | (78.7) | |
| Trauma center level | |||||
| 1 | 1583 | (98) | 256 | (94.1) | <0.01 |
| 2 | 32 | (2) | 16 | (5.9) | |
| Trauma center population | |||||
| Adult | 614 | (38) | 103 | (37.9) | 0.14 |
| Pediatric | 17 | (1.1) | 7 | (2.6) | |
| Both | 984 | (60.9) | 162 | (59.6) | |
| Trauma admissions per year | |||||
| <1500 | 208 | (12.9) | 37 | (13.6) | 0.08 |
| 1500–3000 | 1016 | (62.9) | 186 | (68.4) | |
| >3000 | 391 | (24.2) | 49 | (18) | |
*Median (IQR) for continuous variables and count (percentage) for categorical variables.
†Fisher’s exact test or χ2 test for categorical variables and Wilcoxon rank-sum test for continuous variables; the unknown category, if present, is excluded from the testing procedure.
GCS, Glasgow Coma Score; HPTX, hemopneumothorax; ICU, intensive care unit; ISS, Injury Severity Score; TT, tube thoracostomy.