|
ArticlesMagnitude of the Problem From "Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury" by Richard H. Adler “ ...People are uneducated about traumatic brain injury. They don’t recognize it when it happens to them or their loved ones, they don’t know the extent of the public health problem.... “ This is my dream for people who will sustain a traumatic brain injury: “ ....At the time the TBI is diagnosed,...the injured person receives information about the consequences of traumatic brain injury and sources of education and support. “ ....All traumatic brain injuries will be counted, including mild TBIs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will develop a methodology to count even me, a person with TBI who was not admitted to hospital or died. “ ...Without accurate data, how can we begin to address the problem?...” Presented by a survivor of traumatic brain injury to the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force June 27, 2001, Washington, D.C. A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the function of the brain. Not all blows or jolts to the head result in a TBI. The severity of such a neurological injury may range from “mild,” i.e., a brief change in mental status or consciousness to “severe,” i.e., an extended period of unconsciousness or amnesia after the injury. A TBI can result in short and/or long-term problems with independent function. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is an important public health problem in the United States. Problems that result from TBI such as those of thinking and memory, are often not visible. As such awareness about TBI among the general public is limited, and is frequently referred to as the “silent epidemic.”1 The Centers for Disease Control estimates that over one million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury each year. This number underestimates the problem because people who are seen at patient clinics or doctors’ offices and those who do not receive medical care are not included in the overall count. Morever, many survivors of TBI do not fully appreciate their deficits at first, thereby adding a time lag of days, weeks, months or longer, from initial trauma to evaluation. A result of the magnitude of this silent epidemic is that survivors and their families face heavy burdens in their efforts to obtain knowledgeable competent medical assistance from providers who have a keen understanding of the evaluation and treatment of traumatic brain injury. Once the hurdle of TBI assessment is overcome, the next obstacle for survivors of TBI-related disability is finding services to help them learn to compensate for their deficits, improve their daily functions, and reintegrate into community activities. Another difficulty is finding competent legal representation for a host of legal issues that TBI survivors routinely face. Many attorneys may not fully understand the many needs of a traumatically brain injured person. Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States: Emergency Department Visits, Hospitalization and Death, a 2004 study that was jointly sponsored and prepared by the Centers of Disease Control and the Prevention and the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, presented significant data on the frequency of traumatic brain injury. The study concluded that: How many people have TBI? Of the 1.4 million who sustain a TBI each year in the United States
What causes TBI? The leading causes of TBI are:
Blast injuries are a leading cause of TBI for active duty or military personnel in war zones.2 Who is at highest risk for TBI?
What are the costs of TBI? Direct medical costs and indirect costs such as loss of productivity due to TBI totaled an estimated $56.3 billion in the United States in 1995.4 What are the long-term consequences of TBI? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that at least 5.3 million Americans currently have a long-term or lifelong need for help to perform activities of daily living as a result of a TBI.5 |
