Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
April/May 2006

What is a traumatic brain injury? A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is caused by a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain. (www.cdc.gov)

What causes TBI?

Falls (28%)
Motor vehicle-traffic crashes (20%)
Struck by/against (19%)
Assaults (11%)
Other (10%)
Unknown (7%)
Other transport accident (5%)

(www.cdc.gov)

At least 1.4 million people sustain traumatic brain injuries in the United States every year.

(www.cdc.gov)

There currently are at least 5.3 million Americans living with a disability as a result of brain injury.

(www.biausa.org)

Brain injury claims more than 50,000 lives and leaves more than 80,000 individuals with lifelong disabilities each year.

(www.biausa.org)

In prior conflicts, TBI was present in at least 14-20% of surviving combat casualties; preliminary information from the current war in the Middle East suggests that this number is now much higher.

(Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center)

Of the 1.4 million who sustain a TBI each year in the United States:

50,000 die;
235,000 are hospitalized; and
1.1 million are treated and released from an emergency department

(www.cdc.gov)

Direct medical costs and indirect costs (such as lost productivity) of TBI totaled an estimated $60 billion in the U.S. in 2000.

(Finkelstein E, Corso P, Miller T and associates, 2006)