The utility of serum copeptin levels for determination of injury severity and prognosis in adult patients with multiple blunt trauma

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to investigate the role of serum copeptine levels in determining the severity of trauma and predicting prognosis of serum copeptin levels measured in the posttraumatic early period (first 24 hours) in adult patients with multiple blunt trauma (MBT).
METHODS: This prospective cross-sectional study was enrolled 78 consecutive adult patients with MBT due to various causes as the primary injury and 72 age- and sex-matched healthy controls with no acute traumatic injuries. The serum level of copeptin were assessed in MBT patients and healthy controls.
RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the patients and the controls in terms of serum copetin levels age (3.13 ± 6.10 v.s 3. 90 ± 6.82 and p = 0.468). In addition, no statistically significant correlation was found between serum copeptins levels and age, RTS, ISS and GKS values in patients with MBT. Additionally, there was no significant difference between the hospitalized patients and the patients discharged from the ED in terms of serum copeptin levels (1.72 ± 3.05 v.s 1.95 ± 3.50 and p=0,783).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: In our study, trauma scores such as high RTS and low ISS values are useful in determining the discharge from the emergency department in patients with multitrauma. However, we concluded that the serum copeptin level in these patients was not valuable in predicting trauma severity and prognosis in the early post-trauma period (in the first 24 hours).