Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States: An Epidemiologic Overview
Abstract
A basic description of severity and frequency is needed for planning health care delivery for any disease process. In the case of traumatic brain injury (TBI), severity is typically categorized into mild, moderate, and severe with information from a combination of clinical observation and self-report methodologies. Recent U.S. civilian epidemiological findings measuring the frequency of mortality and morbidity of traumatic brain injury are presented, including demographic and etiological breakdowns of the data. Falls, motor vehicle accidents, and being struck by objects are the major etiologies of traumatic brain injury. U.S. civilian and Army hospitalization trends are discussed and compared. Features of traumatic brain injuries from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom also are discussed. Overall, U.S. Army TBI hospitalizations dropped during the 1990s; however, unlike their civilian counterparts, a substantial decrease in TBI hospitalization was reported for all severity levels. Ivins et al. suggested that possible reasons for the decrease were changes in hospital admission policies for mild TBI and injury prevention programs. However, it is likely that TBI hospitalizations in the Army have increased because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The influx of troops with TBI returning from the Iraqi and Afghanistan conflicts has created a new concern for the U.S. medical system. A large percentage of returning service members with TBI have been exposed to blasts, often in combination with other causes of injury. It is not known if there are specific sequelae caused by TBI blast exposure or if they are substantially similar to TBI sequelae resulting from noncombat causes such as falls and vehicle accidents. Additional considerations for this population include elevated rates of PTSD and depression.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA521869
Entities
People
- Brian Ivins
- Carl R. Summers
- Karen A. Schwab