The effect of trauma quality improvement programme implementation on quality of life among trauma patients in urban India

Trauma accounts for around 4.4 million deaths annually and is among the leading causes of death, disproportionately affecting low- and middle-income countries. Trauma quality improvement programmes may reduce adverse patient outcomes but lack robust evidence. This study assessed the effect of implementing a trauma quality improvement programme using audit filters on health-related quality of life in adult trauma patients in urban India.

We conducted a controlled interrupted time series study (ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT03235388) across four tertiary care university hospitals. Adult (≥18 years) trauma patients, who were alive at 90 days post-admission, were included. After a 14-month observation phase, two hospitals were randomized to the intervention arm and implemented the trauma quality improvement programme, while two control hospitals did not implement any interventions. The study spanned from 2017 to 2022.

Health-related quality of life was assessed 90 days post-admission using the EuroQol 5-dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaire. The main outcome was EQ-5D health status, scaled from 0 to 100, analyzed using a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach. Descriptive analysis was performed for the five individual EQ-5D dimensions.

2307 participants were eligible for the analyses. The DiD analysis showed a statistically significant reduction in the EQ-5D health status score in the intervention arm (DiD estimate -4.07 [95 % CI:-7.00; -1.15]). For the 819 patients with major trauma, there was a more pronounced, but statistically non-significant reduction (DiD estimate -4.86 [95 % CI:-9.87; 0.15]). In the intervention arm, mobility, self-care, and pain/discomfort improved, while usual activities and anxiety/depression worsened.

Implementing trauma quality improvement programmes using audit filters may reduce the average health-related quality of life of trauma patients if more severely injured patients survive, highlighting the importance of assessing quality of life after the implementation of such programmes and ensuring adequate rehabilitation resources to support long-term recovery.