Short-Term Outcome of Transported Versus Not-Transported Seizure Patients by Tehran Emergency Medical Services; a Retrospective Cohort Study

Abstract

Background: One of the most frequent complaints that emergency medical services (EMS) deal with is seizure. The missions of EMS on these cases may lead to transferring the patient to the emergency department (ED). Objectives: Therefore, the present study was conducted to compare the short-term outcome of transported versus not-transported cases. Methods: Our population sample was selected retrospectively from medical records in Tehran EMS center for 6 months in which the plan was transferring to a specific hospital. The cases were divided into transported or not-transported. W extracted and compared the cases’ demographic data, vital signs, conducted prehospital management, patient disposition, and their short-term outcome. Results: We evaluated 486 cases, 173 of whom were males (35.6%) and the mean age of patients was 34.8 ± 32.0 years old. 329 (67.7%) and 157 (32.3%) were in the not-transported and the transported group, respectively. Among all not-transported cases, we could follow 172 patients, 52 of whom had gone to hospital during the next 72 hours. 22 out of the 52 cases were discharged from ED the same day. Overall, the ED discharge rate was significantly more in the transported group (P < 0.001). Short-term mortality had no significant difference in the two study groups (P = 1.00). Conclusions: Most of the not-transported patients did not go to the hospital during further 72 hours, and some were hospitalized. Most of the patients transported to the hospital were discharged from the ED. The short-term mortality rate was not different.