• Chenliang Sun, Hongsheng Zhao, Yang Lu, Zhiwei Wang, Wanjiang Xue, Shu Lu, Haoliang Shen, Yiping Wang, Qingyun Peng, and Lili Huang.
• Department of Critical Care Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, PR China.
• Am J Emerg Med. 2019 Feb 1; 37 (2): 254-259.

BackgroundWe evaluated factors associated with mortality in patients with moderate/severe generalized tetanus.MethodsThis retrospective study included patients with moderate/severe generalized tetanus admitted to the Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University (China) between January 2005 and January 2017. Clinical data were extracted from medical records. Patients were divided into two groups based on outcome (survival or death). Factors associated with mortality were analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression.ResultsSeventy-five patients were included (57.3% male; age, 57.9 ± 18.4 years; APACHE II score, 10.6 ± 3.4; severe tetanus, 49.3%; mortality, 25.3%). Multivariate analysis identified severe tetanus (odds ratio [OR], 30.364; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.459-374.896) and APACHE II score (OR, 1.536; 95%CI, 1.051-2.243) as positively associated with mortality, whereas high-calorie nutrition (OR, 0.027; 95%CI, 0.002-0.359) and dexmedetomidine use (OR, 0.035; 95%CI, 0.003-0.467) were negatively associated with mortality (all P < 0.05).ConclusionTetanus severity and APACHE II score were associated with mortality in patients with generalized tetanus, whereas high-calorie nutrition and dexmedetomidine use reduced the odds of death. High-calorie nutrition and dexmedetomidine administration may improve prognosis in adult patients with moderate/severe generalized tetanus.Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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