The Utility of Serum Copeptin Levels for the Determination of Injury Severity and Prognosis in Adult Patients with Multiple Blunt Trauma

Objective: This study investigates the role of serum copeptin levels measured in the early post-traumatic period (first 24 hours) in adult patients with multiple blunt trauma (MBT) in determining trauma severity and the predicting prognosis.
Material and Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was enrolled 78 consecutive adult patients with MBT and 72 age- and sex-matched healthy controls with no acute traumatic injuries. The serum level of copeptin was assessed in all individuals were included in the study.
Results: No significant difference was observed between the patients with MBT and the control group in serum copeptin levels (3.13±6.10 vs. 3.90±6.82 and p=0.468). In addition, no statistically significant correlation was found between serum copeptin levels and age, revised trauma score (RTS), injury severity score (ISS), and Glasgow Coma scale values in patients with MBT. Additionally, no significant was observed difference between the hospitalized and discharged patients from the emergency department (ED) in terms of serum copeptin levels (1.72±3.05 vs. 1.95±3.50 and p=0.783).
Conclusion: In our study, trauma scores such as high RTS and low ISS values help determine the discharge from the ED in patients with multitrauma. However, we concluded that the serum copeptin level in these patients was not valuable in predicting trauma severity and prognosis in the early post-trauma period (in the first 24 hours).

Keywords: Multiple blunt trauma revised trauma score, injury severity score, prognosis, copeptin