Impact of Type of Health Insurance on Infection Rates among Young Trauma Patients

Abstract Background: Many studies have described the detrimental effect of lack of health insurance on trauma-related outcomes. It is unclear, though, whether these effects are related to pre-injury health status, access to trauma centers, or differences in quality of care after presentation. The aim of this study was to determine if patient and insurance type affect outcomes after trauma surgery. Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of prospectively collected data at the American College of Surgeons level 1 trauma registry in Rhode Island. All blunt trauma patients aged 18–45 observed from 2004 to 2014 were included. Patients were divided into one of four groups on the basis of their type of insurance: Private/commercial, Medicare, Medicaid, and uninsured. Co-morbidities and infections were recorded. Analysis of variance or the Mann-Whitney U test, as appropriate, was used to analyze the data. Results: A total of 8,018 patients were included. Uninsured patients were more likely to be male a...