Incidence of hospital referred head injuries in Norway: a population based survey from the Stavanger region.
BACKGROUND
In three previous Norwegian studies conducted between 1974 and 1993, the annual incidence rates of hospital admitted head injuries were 236, 200 and 169 per 100,000 population. The aim of this study was to describe the incidence of head injury in the Stavanger region and to compare it with previous Norwegian studies.


METHODS
All head injured patients referred to Stavanger University Hospital during a one-year period (2003) were registered in a partly prospective and partly retrospective study. The catchment area for the hospital is strictly defined to a local population of 283,317 inhabitants (2003).


RESULTS
The annual incidence rate was 207/100,000 population for hospital referred head injury and 157/100,000 population for hospital admitted head injury. High age- and sex specific incidence rates were observed among the oldest, and the highest rate (882/100,000) among men above 90 years. More than 50% of the injuries were caused by falls.


CONCLUSIONS
Comparison with previous Norwegian studies indicates decreasing annual incidence rates for hospital admitted head injury during the last 30 years.
Heskestad
Ben
B
Department of Neurosurgery, Ullevål University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. ben.heskestad@ulleval.no
Baardsen
Roald
R
Helseth
Eirik
E
Romner
Bertil
B
Waterloo
Knut
K
Ingebrigtsen
Tor
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000639:trends*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult