LAUSR

Geriatric patients (age > 65 years) who sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) have an increased risk of poor outcomes and higher mortality compared to younger cohorts. We aimed to evaluate the risk factors for discharge outcomes in a geriatric traumatic subdural hematoma (SDH) population, stratified by age and pre-traumatic medical comorbidities. This was a single-center retrospective cohort study of geriatric patients (N = 207). Patient charts were evaluated for factors including patient characteristics, comorbidities, injury- and seizure-related factors and on neurosurgical intervention and patient disposition on discharge. Bivariate and multivariate analyses revealed that age was non-predictive of patient outcomes. Underlying vasculopathic comorbidities were the primary determinant of post-traumatic seizure (PTS), surgical, and discharge outcomes. Multifactor analysis (MFA) demonstrated that patients who went on to develop status epilepticus (N = 11) had a higher frequency of vasculopathic comorbidities with strong predictive power in poor patient outcomes. Our findings suggest a need to establish unique prognostic risk factors based on patient outcomes that guide medical and surgical treatment in geriatric patients.