Blunt adrenal injury does not affect outcomes in adult patients with isolated abdominal injury – A National Trauma Data Bank review

Traumatic blunt adrenal injury (BAI) has been an area of debate, with conflicting data on its impact. BAI from blunt abdominal injury is challenging to diagnose early due to retroperitoneal gland location and minimal clinical signs. The incidence of BAI ranges from 0.03 % to 4.95 %, with an increasing trend attributed to advanced CT imaging. Conflicting data exists regarding BAI's implications on patient outcomes, necessitating a comprehensive evaluation. A retrospective review of the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB®) for 2017-2021 included a total of 352,654 patients with 337,628 polytrauma patients and 15,026 isolated abdominal trauma patients. Patients were categorized into those with and without adrenal injury. Demographic data and outcomes were compared using statistical tests, focusing on Injury Severity Scores (ISS), mortality, length of stay, and ventilation days. Polytrauma patients with BAI had increased mortality, longer ICU and hospital stays, and ventilation requirements when compared to polytrauma patients without BAI. However, when evaluating isolated abdominal trauma patients with BAI showed no significant differences when compared to isolated abdominal trauma without BAI in mortality or ICU LOS and a slight decrease in ICU admissions, hospital LOS, and ventilation requirement. The study indicates a significant association between BAI and increased trauma severity among polytrauma patients. Mortality, however, did not exhibit a consistent rise across all patients with adrenal injury, emphasizing that BAI may not independently influence outcomes. These findings align with the notion that adrenal injury is linked to the overall trauma burden rather than being a primary determinant of mortality.