Epidemiology of traumatic brain injury in South Australia.
Reviews of statewide hospital separations' summaries and medical record data from a major teaching hospital, were conducted to describe the epidemiology of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in South Australia (SA), and to document the demographics of the population affected and the nature of their injuries. The groups most at risk were defined for targeting preventive programmes, and predictions were made regarding their ongoing service needs, for more appropriate provision of care. The results indicate that SA experiences a high incidence of TBI. At 322 per 100,000 head of population annually, it exceeds studies (with comparable methodologies) in communities in the United States and Europe. The causes; nature and severity of the injuries were similar to those found in the international literature, as were the profiles of the population most at risk. Specifically, young males living in the country and working in manual trades showed the highest incidence, and were most likely to have sustained their TBI whilst driving a motor vehicle. When a formula to predict service needs was adapted using the SA data, it was apparent that hospitals in this state care for more than 4000 new cases of TBI each year and that, on discharge, over 1000 of these will have some degree of residual impairment and will therefore require some form of post-injury services.
Hillier
S L
SL
Department of Community Medicine, University of Adelaide, South Australia.
Hiller
J E
JE
Metzer
J
J
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013021:South Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices