**4.1 Mortality**

Mortality in the liver trauma group was significantly increased (34.9%) compared to patients in the abdominal trauma group (12.0%) and patients with no primary liver or abdominal injury (control group 12.0%).

Further analysis of these differences between abdominal trauma group and the control group showed that the higher mortality in the control group is explained by the high mortality of the accompanying head injuries. Thus, a subgroup analysis shows that of the 9,574 trauma patients in the control group, 2,160 patients had suffered a relevant head injury (AIS >3). In this subgroup, mortality even reached 32.8%. The investigation of early mortality showed that 27.3% of patients in the liver trauma group died within the first 24 hours, while this rate was only 6.6% in the non-liver abdominal group.
