For this study, researchers sought to determine survival rates among more than 223,000 patients who were either transported to trauma centers by helicopter (61,909 patients) or ground transport (161,566 patients). They relied on data from the American College of Surgeons National Trauma Data Bank to compare the outcomes.
Their analysis showed slightly more patients transported by helicopter (12.6 percent) died compared to patients transported by ground services (11 percent). However, when researchers accounted for severity of injuries and other confounding factors such as age and travel times, the researchers found patients transported by helicopter actually had a higher rate of survival compared to patients transported by ground services. Specifically, helicopter transport translated to a 16 percent increased chance of survival for patients.
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