Epidemiology and Impact of Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

Abstract In order to eventually put mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) into proper perspective, it is important to first paint the broader picture of the significance of all-severity traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBI is one of the most significant public health problems facing the United States and other industrialized countries around the world. Every year, TBI is a leading cause of death and disability among young people. National estimates of TBI in the United States range anywhere from 1.4 million to 3 million brain injuries per year, de- pending on the study and methods used to define and include cases. In 2003, there were an estimated 1,224,000 hospital emergency department visits, 290,000 hospitalizations, and 51,000 deaths resulting from TBI, all of which sum to a total of 1,565,000 hospital-treated TBIs that year. Given changes in hospitalization patterns over the past two decades, fewer and fewer mild and moderate TBI patients are hospitalized, with more triaged in the emergency department or treated in ambulatory/outpatient settings, so the true incidence of all-severity TBI is severely underestimated.