Clinical characteristics analysis of 2 368 patients with traumatic brain injury

Abstract

Objective To understand the clinical characteristics of traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients and provide fundamental data for reducing the incidence of TBI and improving its treatment efficacy. Methods Medical histories of TBI inpatients from January 2011 to December 2016 were collected from the TBI database of Neurosurgical Department at Tianjin Medical University General Hospital. Information including gender, age, causes of TBI, injury severity, sources of the inpatients, interval from injury to treatment, diagnosis, and treatment were analyzed retrospectively. Results A total of 2 368 TBI patients were enrolled, aged mainly 30-60 years. There were more male patients (n=1 741) than female patients (n=627) (2.78 ∶1), while the gender ratio was reversed among patients above 60 years old (2.09 ∶1) (P<0.05). Traffic accident (60.14%) remained the major cause of TBI, while the proportion of electric motorcycle accident was 17.35%, followed by fall from height (13.64%). The proportion of mild TBI patients from suburb counties was lower than that of patients from the six urban areas (P<0.05), while the proportion of heavy TBI patients from other provinces was higher than those of both urban and suburb counties (P<0.05). The average interval from injury to specialist treatment was 7.53 hours. Patients who received treatment within 3 hours had better improvement than those who were treated 3 hours after TBI (P<0.05). The main injuries were skull fracture (33.07%) and brain contusion (30.32%). A total of 783 patients (33.07%) underwent surgery, among which 693 patients received the most common procedure of craniotomy hematoma evacuation (including decompressive craniectomy). The improvement rate of patients with intracranial pressure monitoring was higher than those without intracranial pressure monitoring (P<0.05). The improvement rate of the surgery group was significantly higher than that of the non surgery group (P<0.05). Conclusions The ratio of elderly female TBI patients is on the rise; TBI presents an increase in traffic accidents; mild TBI patients choose to receive treatment in close hospitals while those with severe TBI choose comprehensive hospitals; and the interval from injury to treatment is long. The following strategies including improving the traffic facilities, strengthening the education of traffic safety on elderly females and pedestrians, and optimizing the TBI medical treatment process would reduce the incidence of TBI and improve the efficiency of treatment. Key words: Brain injuries; Database; Inpatients; Clinical characteristics