Anti-platelet medication and trauma in older patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The laboratory and clinical outcomes of older patients taking anti-platelet agents, following admission to hospital with traumatic injury.
IRAS ID
300468
Contact name
Nicola Curry
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 1 days
Research summary
Patients aged 65 and over now account for over half of severely injured trauma patients. The most frequent mechanism of injury in this patient group is a fall from less than two metres and a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the most common injury sustained. Many of these older patients will be taking medication, such as antiplatelet drugs (e.g. aspirin, clopidogrel) for other illnesses such as heart disease. The use of these anti-platelet drugs complicates treatment of these patients presenting with trauma because they may make bleeding worse. At present, we do not have a good test that tells us how much anti-platelet drug a patient has in their blood, and we also do not have a good way to reverse their effects.
We have developed a test that may help us measure the effects of anti-platelet drugs in patients. But we first need to understand how well this test works in a cohort of patients presenting to hospital. One of the main aims of this study is to see if this platelet test can detect differences between patients with trauma who are or who are not taking anti-platelet drugs. Future studies could then use these tests to direct treatments. This protocol describes a pilot study which seeks to answer the following questions:
1) What are the effects of the anti-platelet agents on coagulation and platelet function following injury?
2) What is the prevalence of older patients with trauma being admitted to hospital who takes anti-platelet agents and what are their clinical outcomes.
Our study will recruit from patients presenting at OUH Emergency Department over a 12 month period. We will collect information on patients presenting with trauma who are over 65 years of age. We will request an additional blood and urine sample for later analysis using the novel in-depth platelet tests we have developed.REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/EE/0231
Date of REC Opinion
3 Nov 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion