CDC’s ongoing scientific progress in the rapidly evolving field of traumatic brain injury

What

The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation special May/June issue features research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its public health partners aiming to prevent traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to help people better recognize, respond, and recover, when a TBI occurs.  

The cornerstone of all of CDC’s TBI activities is surveillance, which gives a clear understanding of how much of a problem TBI is in the United States. Surveillance informs prevention efforts and helps to determine progress in the field. The research presented in this issue highlights the need for strategies to prevent TBI and mitigate the substantial physical, psychological, economic, and social impacts of TBI.

The special issue includes the following five articles and key findings:

• Reach and Knowledge Change among Coaches and Other Participants of the Online Course: “Concussion in Sports: What You Need to Know”
  • CDC and the National Federation of State High School Association’s online course increased concussion-related knowledge across a wide range of individuals, reaching over 666,000 participants, and including coaches of more than 20 sports, between May 2010 and July 2013.
• Trends in Sports- and Recreation-related Traumatic Brain Injuries Treated in US Emergency Departments: the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP), 2001-2012
  • TBIs accounted for approximately 7 percent of all sports- and recreation-related injuries treated in United States emergency departments; there were approximately 3.4 million TBIs treated in emergency departments during 2001-2012.
• Comparability of National Estimates for Traumatic Brain Injury-Related Medical Encounters
  • New sources of TBI-related data on emergency department visits and hospitalizations provide more reliable estimates of TBI and increase the ability to examine subpopulations at most risk for TBI.
• Unemployment in the United States after Traumatic Brain Injury for Working Age Individuals: Prevalence and Associated Factors Two Years Post-Injury
  • Approximately 60 percent of persons aged 16 to 60 years who were discharged from inpatient rehabilitation between 2001 and 2010 remained unemployed two years post-injury.
• Motorcycle Crash-related Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalizations and Traumatic Brain Injuries in North Carolina
  • Motorcycle crash patients with a TBI consumed more health care resources and were three times as likely to die in the emergency department compared to patients with non-TBI motorcycle crash injuries.

Who

Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation

When

May 14, 2015
For more information on TBI, visit: http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html
CDC’s educational initiative, HEADS UP: http://www.cdc.gov/headsup/

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES