Patient characteristics with patients categorised by modified and original severe head injury criteria, by treatment allocation
| Characteristic | Original head injury definition (GCS<9) | Modified head injury definition (GCS 3–12 and AIS≥3) | ||
| Standard care | Physician care | Standard care | Physician care | |
| n | 178 | 197 | 156 | 182 |
| Age at randomisation (years) | 43 (26–55) | 40 (27–60) | 45 (26–60) | 42 (27–61) |
| Male | 124 (70%) | 153 (78%) | 111 (71%) | 139 (76%) |
| At least one comorbidity | 74 (50%) | 89 (52%) | 59 (45%) | 73 (45%) |
| Comorbidities unknown | 32 (18%) | 28 (14%) | 25 (16%) | 22 (12%) |
| Warfarin | 1 (1%) | 6 (3%) | 1 (1%) | 7 (4%) |
| Mechanism of injury | ||||
| Transport-related | 97 (58%) | 104 (55%) | 89 (60%) | 104 (60%) |
| Fall | 38 (23%) | 49 (26%) | 38 (26%) | 50 (29%) |
| Other | 33 (20%) | 35 (19%) | 21 (14%) | 19 (11%) |
| Pupil reactivity | ||||
| Nil reactive | 58 (33%) | 66 (34%) | 44 (28%) | 48 (26%) |
| One reactive | 16 (9%) | 8 (4%) | 16 (10%) | 10 (5%) |
| Both reactive | 104 (58%) | 123 (62%) | 96 (62%) | 124 (68%) |
| Injury measures | ||||
| First GCS | 3 (3–6) | 4 (3–6) | 6 (3–9) | 6 (3–9) |
| First systolic BP (mm Hg) | 100 (60–125) | 113 (70–140) | 111 (80–140) | 120 (90–140) |
| Revised trauma score | 4.1 (2.9–6.0) | 4.4 (3.4–5.7) | 5.0 (4.1–6.2) | 5.0 (3.9–6.2) |
| Injury severity score* | 24 (6–34) | 24 (9–34) | 29 (20–38) | 26 (20–36) |
| New injury severity score* | 27 (7–48) | 29 (10–45) | 41 (27–57) | 38 (27–50) |
| Head AIS score* | 3 (2–5) | 3 (2–5) | 4 (3–5) | 4 (3–5) |
| Type of injury—Marshall classification of first CT scan,10 | ||||
| Diffuse I | 52 (40%) | 69 (45%) | 23 (17%) | 46 (28%) |
| Diffuse II | 45 (35%) | 51 (33%) | 74 (55%) | 75 (45%) |
| Diffuse III | 26 (20%) | 20 (13%) | 30 (22%) | 31 (19%) |
| Diffuse IV | 6 (5%) | 13 (8%) | 7 (5%) | 14 (8%) |
| Extradural haematoma | 5 (4%) | 5 (3%) | 11 (8%) | 13 (8%) |
| Subdural haematoma | 30 (22%) | 44 (28%) | 47 (34%) | 63 (37%) |
| Other haematoma | 3 (2%) | 4 (3%) | 4 (3%) | 3 (2%) |
| Traumatic subarachnoid haemorrhage | 60 (34%) | 72 (37%) | 84 (54%) | 98 (54%) |
| Base-of-skull fracture | 38 (21%) | 37 (19%) | 50 (32%) | 50 (27%) |
Statistics are given as n (%) or median (IQR).
*2005 definition.
AIS, Abbreviated Injury Scale.