What is Brain Injury?

A brain injury is often caused by a physical trauma (Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI) such as from a fall or car accident. A brain injury can also be acquired (Acquired Brain Injury or ABI) from other events such a stroke, or lack of oxygen to the brain following a heart attack or drowning.

What causes TBI?
The leading causes of TBI are:

• Falls (28%);
• Motor vehicle-traffic crashes (20%);
• Struck by/against (19%); and
• Assaults (11%)

Blasts are a leading cause of TBI for active duty military personnel in war zones 1.

How many people have TBI?
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. 1
• In 2002 there were 33,073 Emergency Department visits for traumatic brain injuries in Massachusetts . 2

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.

According to one study, about 40% of those hospitalized with a TBI had at least one unmet need for services one year after their injury. The most frequent unmet needs were:

• Improving memory and problem solving;
• Managing stress and emotional upsets;
• Controlling one's temper; and
• Improving one's job skills. 1

1      www.biausa.org

2      MA Emergency Department Discharge Database, MA Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, 2002