Photo Credit: Gorodenkoff

The following is a summary of “Calcium supplementation during trauma resuscitation: a propensity score-matched analysis from the TraumaRegister DGU®,” published in the July 2024 issue of Critical Care by Helsloot et al.

Hypocalcemia in patients with severe injuries is linked to higher death rates, prompting recommendations for early calcium treatment despite limited causal evidence.

Researchers conducted a retrospective study exploring whether administering calcium during trauma resuscitation improves survival outcomes.

They analyzed data (2015-2019) from the TraumaRegister DGU®, comparing major trauma patients with and without early calcium supplementation. Propensity score matching was used to ensure balanced groups for age, injury severity, and other treatments. The primary outcomes investigated were mortality rates within 6 hours, 24 hours, and during hospitalization.

The result showed 28,323 directly admitted adult patients with major trauma at a European trauma center; only 5.6% (1,593 patients) received calcium supplementation. After matching using propensity scores from multivariable logistic regression, 2 comparable groups of 1,447 patients were analyzed. Early mortality at 6 and 24 hours showed no significant difference between the groups. In-hospital mortality appeared higher among patients who received calcium (28.3% vs. 24.5%, P=0.020), though a similar difference was not observed after adjusting for predicted mortality (P=0.244).

Investigators concluded that the study did not provide definitive evidence supporting or refuting a survival benefit from calcium supplementation during trauma resuscitation, underscoring the need for further research into ionized calcium dynamics and potential subgroup benefits.

Source: ccforum.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13054-024-05002-1