Independent Application of the Sacco Disaster Triage Method to Pediatric Trauma Patients

Though many mass-casualty triage methods have been proposed, few have been validated in an evidence-based manner. The Sacco Triage Method (STM) has been shown to accurately stratify adult victims of blunt and penetrating trauma into groups of increasing mortality risk. However, it has not been validated for pediatric trauma victims. Evaluate the STM's performance in pediatric trauma victims. Records from the United States' National Trauma Data Base, a registry of trauma victims developed by the American College of Surgeons, were extracted for the 2007-2009 reporting years. Patients ≤ 18 years of age transported from a trauma scene with complete initial scene data were included in the analysis. Sacco triage scores were assigned to each registry patient, and receiver-operator curves were developed for predicting mortality, along with several secondary outcomes. Area under the receiver-operator curve (AUC) was the main outcome statistic. Sensitivity analysis was performed using a Sacco score without age adjustment, using blunt versus penetrating trauma, and using patients