Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Severe TBI carries the greatest risk of brain death progression. There are currently no laboratory markers that predict patient's outcome. We hypothesize that the degree of hypophosphatemia (HP) in TBI is an indicator for progression to brain death. A total of 336 patients, ages 15-89, with a GCS of 8 or less at admission were identified and retrospectively analyzed. Demographics, laboratory studies, and brain death (BD) were collected. Univariate analysis demonstrated HP was correlated with BD (P < .0002). Multivariate analysis showed that phosphate was the only measured electrolyte correlated to BD with a P value < .0001. Mechanism of hypophosphatemia may be related to BD progression and provide future areas for study.
Keywords: ICU; brain death; critical care; hypophosphatemia; severe traumatic brain injury; trauma acute care.