The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week released the results of an extensive study of traumatic brain injury (TBI), and it offers a wealth of data – some of it disturbing. http://www.cdc.gov/media/pressrel/2010/r100317.htm There are an estimated 1.7 million deaths, hospitalizations, and emergency-department visits related to TBI in the United States each year, according to the CDC report released Wednesday.
“Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States: Emergency Department Visits, Hospitalizations, and Death,” is based on data from 2002 to 2006 and identifies the leading causes of TBI and incidence by age, race, and gender. Here is other landmark information from that report: There were 52,000 TBI-related deaths and 275,000 hospitalizations annually. Almost 1.4 million, or 80 percent, of the people who sustained a TBI were treated and released from an emergency department.
That doesn’t bode well for these people, who may encounter long term, permanent problems stemming from their brain injury down the road.
The CDC report found that TBIs contribute to nearly a third or 30.5 percent of injury-related deaths in the United States.
Here are some other nuggets from the study:
- •Children from birth to four years old; older adolescents aged 15 to 19 years,;and adults aged 65 years and older are most likely to sustain a TBI.
- Falls are the leading cause of TBI (35.2 percent). Rates are highest for children from birth to four years and for adults aged 75 years and older.
- Among all age groups, road-traffic injury is the second leading cause of TBI (17.3 percent) and results in the largest percentage of TBI-related deaths (31.8 percent).
- In every age group, TBI rates are higher for males than for females.
“This report not only presents TBI numbers, it helps to show the impact of this injury nationwide,” Dr. Richard Hunt, director of CDC’s Division for Injury Response, said in a press release. “These data can help to impact the lives of millions of Americans as they serve as building blocks that guide TBI prevention strategies. They also help to identify research and education priorities and support the need for services among individuals at risk or living with a TBI.”
The CDC said it’s trying to create educational outreach initiatives to increase awareness and improve the prevention, recognition, and response to TBIs.
The CDC’s “Heads Up” educational initiatives have already been y adopted in emergency departments, doctor’s offices, playing fields, homes and schools. These initiatives provide information to health care providers, patients, school professionals, sports coaches, parents, teens, and youth on how to prevent, recognize, and manage TBIs. A free copy of the TBI report can be downloaded at http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/tbi_ed.html.
The problem with this type of epidemiological reporting is that it doesn’t go far enough. What is needed is a comprehensive statement from the CDC as to how to best diagnose concussion (detailed investigation of amnesia,not just confusion) and to require that accident and fall cases get the same follow up that sport cases do.
