Generally, there are two types of brain injuries: Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). An ABI generally encompasses any injury to the brain that occurs after birth as a result of physical force (such as, due to an accident), tumors, violent acts (such as a gun shot wound). ABI is the broadest category and includes, generally, all brain injuries that occur after birth.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be caused by an external force such as a vehicle accident, fall or sports injury. However, not every blow or jolt to the head results in a TBI. The severity of a TBI ranges from mild (a brief change in mental status or consciousness) to moderate to severe (an extended period of unconsciousness or amnesia after the injury.)
About 85% of TBIs that occur are considered mild while the remaining 15% are moderate to severe. Estimates are that at least 5.3 million Americans currently have long-term, or lifelong, need for help to perform activities of daily living as a result of a TBI. The leading causes of TBI are Falls (28%); Motor vehicle-traffic crashes (20%); Struck by/against events (19%); and Assaults (11%).
More people are disabled from TBI than from spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, stroke and Alzheimers! Estimates are that 227,000 Ohioans are living with disability due to TBI.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.4 million persons sustain a TBI each year in the United States. Of these, 50,000 die; 235,000 are hospitalized; and 1.1 million are treated and released from an emergency department. [Langlois JA, Rutland-Brown W, Thomas KE. Traumatic brain injury in the United States: emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths. Atlanta (GA): Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; 2004.]
Among children ages 0 to 14 years, TBI results in an estimated 2,685 deaths; 37,000 hospitalizations; and 435,000 emergency department visits annually. TBI is the leading cause of death and disability for children, adolescents, and young adults in the United States. 90,000 of those injured will sustain permanent injuries.
Among those claiming a disability, TBI ranks second only to mental retardation. TBI causes more disability than spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy and epilepsy COMBINED. More people are disabled from TBI than from stroke or Alzheimers or persistent mental illness.
The direct medical costs and indirect costs such as lost productivity of TBI totaled an estimated, and staggering, $60 billion in the United States in 2000 alone. [Finkelstein E, Corso P, Miller T and associates. The Incidence and Economic Burden of Injuries in the United States. New York (NY): Oxford University Press; 2006.]
DID YOU KNOW: If you have a brain injury, you are 3 times more likely to get another. After the second injury, the risk for the third injury is 8 times greater.
Sources: Brain Injury Association of America, CDC and a 2/28/08 presentation by the Brain Injury Association of Ohio.
