Fatores prognósticos do trauma raquimedular por projétil de arma de fogo em pacientes submetidos a laminectomia Prognostic factors related to gunshot wounds to the spine in patients submited to laminectomy

Os traumas sobre a coluna resultantes de projetil de arma de fogo (PAF) são lesões geralmente graves e muitas vezes com baixo potencial para recuperação neurológica. A indicação cirúrgica destas lesões ainda é motivo de controvérsia. O objetivo deste artigo é identificar fatores no pré e trans-operatório que irão influenciar na recuperação neurológica destes pacientes. Realizamos estudo retrospectivo de 45 pacientes submetidos a laminectomia para trauma raquimedular por PAF, avaliando os seguintes fatores: nível da lesão, apresentação clínica, uso de glicocorticóide no pré-operatório, presença de lesão dural, momento cirúrgico e relação entre escala de Frankel pré e pós-operatória. Observamos que os fatores mais importantes para a recuperação neurológica foram o nível da lesão (53% dos pacientes com lesão lombar melhoraram após a cirurgia) e a apresentação clínica pré-operatória (pacientes com síndrome de cauda equina obtiveram melhora em 60% dos casos), sendo que as demais variáveis não apresentaram significância estatística. Em 71% dos casos, a dor pré-operatória foi aliviada com o procedimento cirúrgico.<br>The spinal trauma related to civilian gunshot missile still remains a serious neurological event that carries a dismal prognosis almost in all cases. Its surgical indication also is a mather of discution. Our goal is to identify the aspects that could influence the prognosis after surgery to this kind of lesions. We conducted a retrospective study of 45 consecutive patients submitted to laminectomy at Hospital de Base do Distrito Federal (Brasília, Brazil), testing the following aspects: initial neurological status, level of the deficit, surgical timing, use of methilprednisolone and presence of dural tearing. Among those, the initial clinical presentation and the level of the lesion (60% of the patients with cauda equina syndrome and 53% of that with lesions in the lombar region improved their neurological status after laminectomy) were the most important factors affecting the outcome. Seventy percent of the patients experienced a pain relief after the surgical procedure

Reliability of the American Community Survey for unintentional drowning and submersion injury surveillance: a comprehensive assessment of 10 socioeconomic indicators derived from the 2006–2013 annual and multi-year data cycles

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to evaluate the reliability and predictability of ten socioeconomic indicators obtained from the 2006–2013 annual and multi-year ACS data cycles for unintentional drowning and submersion injury surveillance. METHODS: Each indicator was evaluated using its margin of error and coefficient of variation. For the multi-year data cycles we calculated the frequency that estimates for the same geographic areas from consecutive surveys were statistically significantly different. Relative risk estimates of drowning-related deaths were constructed using the National Center for Health Statistics compressed mortality file. All analyses were derived using census counties. RESULTS: Five of the ten socioeconomic indicators derived from the annual and multi-year data cycles produced high reliability CV estimates for at least 85 % of all US counties. On average, differences in socioeconomic characteristics for the same geographic areas for consecutive 3- and 5-year data cycles were unlikely to be caused by sampling error in only 17 % (5–89 %) and 21 % (5–93 %) of all counties. No indicator produced statistically significant relative risk estimates across all data cycles and survey years. CONCLUSIONS: The reliability of the annual and multi-year county-level ACS data cycles varies by census indicator. More than 75 % of the differences in estimates between consecutive multi-year surveys are likely to have occurred as a result of sampling error, suggesting that researchers should be judicious when interpreting overlapping survey data as reflective of real changes in socioeconomic conditions. Although no indicator predicted disparities in drowning-related injury mortality across all data cycles and years, further studies are needed to determine if these associations remain consistent at different geographic scales and for injury morbidity