“The Why & How Our Trauma Patients Die: A Prospective Multicenter Western Trauma Association Study.”

Introduction Historically, hemorrhage has been attributed as the leading cause (40%) of early death. However, a rigorous, real-time classification of the cause of death (COD) has not been performed. This study sought to prospectively adjudicate and classify COD to determine the epidemiology of trauma mortality. Methods 18 trauma centers prospectively enrolled all adult trauma patients at the time of death during 12/2015-8/2017. Immediately following death, attending providers adjudicated the primary and contributing secondary COD using standardized definitions. Data were confirmed by autopsies, if performed. Results 1536 patients were enrolled with a median age of 55 (IQR 32-75). 74.5% were male. Penetrating mechanism (n=412) patients were younger (32 vs 64, p

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