United States Traumatic Brain Injury Statistics

According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the CDC, the following yearly statistics relate to traumatic brain injuries in the United States:

• 1.7 million people suffer a traumatic brain injury.
• Nearly 1.4 million people visit an emergency department after suffering head trauma.
• 275,000 people require hospitalization because of a head injury.
• 52,000 people die as a result of a brain injury.

It should be noted that several studies have shown that a large percentage – some say more than half – of the number of people who suffer a traumatic brain injury are never seen by medical professionals. As such, these statistics should be viewed with the idea that many more people are likely out there who are suffering from the aftereffects of head trauma.

Trends Relating to Traumatic Brain Injury Statistics

The number of people who are diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries in the United States has risen dramatically in recent years. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the following statistics describe trends regarding traumatic brain injury diagnoses in the United States:

• 521 per 100,000 people visited emergency rooms because of head injuries in 2001.
• 616 per 100,000 people visited emergency rooms because of head trauma in 2005.
• 824 per 100,000 people visited emergency rooms because of brain injuries in 2010.
• Brain injury-related emergency room visits increased by 70 percent during this timeframe.
• Traumatic brain injury-related hospital stays increased by 11 percent between 2001 and 2010.
• Head trauma-caused deaths increased by 7 percent during this decade.
• Between 3 and 5 million people live with long-term disabilities resulting from traumatic brain injuries.

Once again, these traumatic brain injury statistics relate only to documented cases and do not include those people who have not sought treatment.

Potential Reasons for the Rise in Traumatic Brain Injury Diagnoses

The rise in the number of diagnoses of traumatic brain injuries in the United States essentially dates back to the end of World War II. An enormous number of soldiers returned from the war with head trauma that led to countless challenges given the dearth of technology and knowledge with regards to head trauma at the time. This development prompted much more study into this health issue. Learning about brain injuries began in earnest.

Since then, several other factors may have contributed to the rise in the number of traumatic brain injury diagnoses. These include:

• Increased awareness
• The advancement of medical technology
• An increase in the number of motor vehicles on the roads
• Increased urban crowding, leading to more traffic accidents
• The collective aging of the population, as older Americans face a high risk of suffering a brain injury

The increase in the number of traumatic brain injury diagnoses is a function of several different components of society.

Other Traumatic Brain Injury Statistics

In addition to the raw traumatic brain injury statistics, there are other facts available from the CDC and other sources regarding this problem, including:

• The three age groups of people most likely to suffer a traumatic brain injury include those between 0 and 4, those between 15 and 19 and those who are 65 years old or older.
• Approximately 500,000 children under the age of 15 visit emergency departments every year because of head trauma.
• Americans who are 75 years old or older face the highest rate of brain injury-caused hospitalizations and deaths.
• Males are more likely to sustain traumatic brain injuries than women across every age group.

Traumatic Brain Injury Statistics: A Comparison

Putting a public health problem into context is always somewhat difficult, as statistics are just numbers to those who may not have been affected by an issue when they see them. With regards to traumatic brain injury statistics, consider the following:

• Approximately 38,000 people were killed in car accidents in the United States in 2015, or more than 25 percent fewer than those who died because of traumatic brain injuries.
• 39,000 people per year die from accidental poisoning in the United States or 13,000 fewer than those killed by traumatic brain injuries.
• 2,700 people are killed by fires every year in the United States, or more than 49,000 fewer than those killed by brain injuries.

Traumatic brain injury statistics are troubling, and that’s why all of us need to take steps to make sure that we do our part to bring these numbers down.

How To Help Bring Turn These Numbers Downward

Unfortunately, a look at the leading causes of traumatic brain injury reveals that a large portion of these injuries results from the faulty actions of others. People who suffer a traumatic brain injury because of these faulty actions need to help bring about awareness and deterrence by seeking the help of traumatic brain injury lawyers who can stand up and fight with them for their legal rights. Families who suddenly find themselves grieving the loss of a loved one because of wrongfully-inflicted head trauma should do the same. If these steps are taken, perhaps these troubling traumatic brain injury statistics will turn downward. If you need this type of help, contact Gomez Trial Attorneys today to schedule a free initial consultation.