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assessment within the specified timeframe of six hours. This   the Army, the Department of the Navy, the Department of De-
          limited the overall sample size and was the primary factor that   fense, or the US Government.
          excluded patients from analysis that otherwise met inclusion
          criteria. While this limited the power of the study, it likely did   Author Contributions
          not significantly introduce any bias, as this was a pervasive   VS conceived the study concept. All authors coordinated and
          limitation for all patients initially included.    collected the data, and JA analyzed the data. LJ and JN wrote
                                                             the first draft, and all authors read and approved the final
          This  study  also  did  not  include  long-term  follow-up,  which   manuscript.
          would potentially further validate or refute our findings. Ad-
          ditional research to include studies with increased sample size   References
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          The view(s) expressed herein are those of the author(s) and   line using percentage of predicted forced vital capacity improves
                                                                resource allocation for rib fracture patients. J Trauma Acute Care
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          Sciences, the Department of the Air Force, the Department of   of predicted forced vital capacity to stratify rib fracture patients:

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