ArticleTrauma surgery & acute care open2019
Helicopter versus ground ambulance: review of national database for outcomes in survival in transferred trauma patients in the USA.
Article in Trauma surgery & acute care open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Survival and cost-effectiveness of helicopter versus ground emergency medical services: a systematic review and meta-analysis with meta-regression and trial sequential analysis.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Epidemiology and outcomes of trauma patients transported by helicopter emergency medical services: a descriptive-analytical study.International journal of emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Transfer dynamics of pediatric thoracic trauma patients across Türkiye.Pediatric surgery international · 2026Article
- Helicopter emergency medical services for elderly patients: clinical outcomes and disease patterns.BMC emergency medicine · 2025Observational
- Barriers to helicopter emergency medical services in a Haze-Prone, mountainous region of Northern Thailand.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2025Article
- Trends in Varying Modes of Hospital Arrival: What Determines the Ideal Mode of Transportation?Cureus · 2025Article
- Geographic Disparity in Distance to Trauma Care in Secondary Schools Across the United States.Journal of athletic training · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of road safety interventions: An evidence and gap map.Campbell systematic reviews · 2024Article
- Treatment of a penetrating inferior vena cava injury using doctor-helicopter emergency medical service and direct-to-operating room resuscitation in Korea: a case report.Journal of trauma and injury · 2024Article
- The Role of Medical Helicopter and Ground Medical Crews in Polytrauma Management: An Evaluative Perspective.Patient related outcome measures · 2024Article
- Impact of Community Socioeconomic Characteristics on Emergency Medical Service Delays in Responding to Fatal Vehicle Crashes.AJPM focus · 2023Article
- Helicopter Ambulance Transport to the Emergency Department: Demographic and Clinical Factors Impacting Outcomes in a Turkish Medical Center.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2023Article
- Pediatric interfacility transport effects on mortality and length of stay.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2021Article
- Effect of Distance to Trauma Centre, Trauma Centre Level, and Trauma Centre Region on Fatal Injuries among Motorcyclists in Taiwan.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- The first seven years of nationally organized helicopter emergency medical services in Finland - the data from quality registry.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2020Article
- What's New in Emergencies Trauma and Shock - The Helicopter Paradox in Trauma Care: Does Faster Transport Necessarily Improve Survival?Journal of emergencies, trauma, and shockArticle
- The Ideal Trauma Transport Modality: Helicopter or Ground Ambulance? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of emergencies, trauma, and shockArticle
- Severity-Driven Trends in Mortality in a Large Regionalized Critical Care Transport Service.Air medical journalArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTrauma care has improved substantially in the last decade. The emphasis of the Golden Hour in trauma care has encouraged the creation of faster transport and earlier prehospital intervention. Despite the clear time-saving advantage helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) held over ground ambulances (GAs) in the past, advances in prehospital care over the last decade have created uncertainty as to whether HEMS transport is still associated with improved patient outcomes. We aimed to determine whether air transportation was associated with better outcomes compared with ground transportation. We hypothesized that air transportation is associated with better patient outcomes.
methodsA retrospective review was performed on the National Trauma Data Bank in 2014 on patients transferred either by helicopter or ground ambulance. Demographic information, mean length of stay, mean ventilator days, and mortality rate was abstracted. All transferred patients and patients with missing information were excluded. χ
resultsA total of 469 407 transferred trauma patients were analyzed. Mortality appeared to be increased in trauma patients transported by helicopter ambulance (6.0%) versus GA (2.9%) (p<0.001). However, after adjusting for age, ISS, and gender, trauma patients who were transferred by helicopter were 57.0% less likely to die than those transferred by GA (95% CI 0.41 to 0.44, p<0.0001).
conclusionThe results of this study demonstrate that despite improvements in trauma care, patients have improved survival if transported by helicopter ambulance. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE AND STUDY TYPE: Level IV; Therapeutic/Care Management.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.