Abstract
Background: Trauma continues to be a common cause of mortality in Singapore. By understanding the epidemiology of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), healthcare professionals can be better equipped to tackle the increasing socioeconomic burden of disease, adopting better strategies in healthcare planning.Methodology: A retrospective review of 367 patients admitted with TBI to a tertiary medical institution from January to December 2014 was performed, studying demographic profiles, injury details and outcomes of these patients. Data was retrieved from the National Trauma Registry and the institution's database.Results: Two hundred thirty-four of the 367 patients included in this study fell into two age groups-−19 to 40 years and ≥65 years. 58% of the TBI population were aged >60. Predominant mechanism of injuries in these groups were road traffic accidents and unwitnessed falls respectively. 39% of the Elderly group were on antiplatelet/anticoagulant agents (p < 0.001). While aggressive surgical intervention was more common in younger patients (p < 0.001), the elderly group had significantly longer lengths of hospital stay (p < 0.001). Though Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) scores at discharge were not significantly different between the two groups, elderly patients showed greater percentages of post-injury improvement subsequently.Conclusion: The demographics of TBI patients appears to have shifted toward an older population as compared to a decade ago, with an increased incidence of falls, highlighting a huge healthcare concern. We hope that this study will drive further nationwide studies in future, looking at the incidence and prevalence of TBI, and with the focus on tackling preventable causes of TBI.
Highlights
Trauma continues to be the fifth most common cause of mortality in Singapore, contributing to 4.7% of all deaths in 2014
This study aims to assess demographic profiles of the local traumatic brain injury (TBI) population and serve as a basis for future comparison with local [10] and international data
Three patients with moderate to severe TBI were admitted to NUH over a 1-year period from January 2014 to December 2014
Summary
Trauma continues to be the fifth most common cause of mortality in Singapore, contributing to 4.7% of all deaths in 2014. Of these patients, traumatic brain injury (TBI) accounts for more than fifty percent of all major disability and mortality [1]. Given this aging population, one can expect to see certain population trends—increased numbers of TBI due to falls in elderly, [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11] and among TBI patients, an increased use of antiplatelet and anticoagulation medications. By understanding the epidemiology of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), healthcare professionals can be better equipped to tackle the increasing socioeconomic burden of disease, adopting better strategies in healthcare planning
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