Is State Trauma Funding Associated with Mortality among Injured Hospitalized Patients?

Background: We sought to quantify the association between state trauma funding and (1) in -hospital mortality and (2) transfers of injured patients. Methods: We conducted an observational cross-sectional study of states with publicly available trauma funding data. We analyzed in -hospital mortality using linked data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey, and these State Department of Public Health trauma funding data. Results: A total of 594,797 injured adult patients were admitted to acute care hospitals in 17 states. Patients in states with >$1.00 per capita state trauma funding had 0.82 (95 % CI: 0.78-0.85, p < 0.001) decreased adjusted odds of in -hospital mortality compared to patients in states with less than $1.00 per capita state trauma funding. Conclusions: Increased state trauma funding is associated with decreased adjusted in -hospital mortality.