title: Epidemiology of Traumatic Brain Injury in Europe: A Living Systematic Review.
abstract: This systematic review provides a comprehensive, up-to-date summary of traumatic brain injury (TBI) epidemiology in Europe, describing incidence, mortality, age, and sex distribution, plus severity, mechanism of injury, and time trends. PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Web of Science were searched in January 2015 for observational, descriptive, English language studies reporting incidence, mortality, or case fatality of TBI in Europe. There were no limitations according to date, age, or TBI severity. Methodological quality was assessed using the Methodological Evaluation of Observational Research checklist. Data were presented narratively. Sixty-six studies were included in the review. Country-level data were provided in 22 studies, regional population or treatment center catchment area data were reported by 44 studies. Crude incidence rates varied widely. For all ages and TBI severities, crude incidence rates ranged from 47.3 per 100,000, to 694 per 100,000 population per year (country-level studies) and 83.3 per 100,000, to 849 per 100,000 population per year (regional-level studies). Crude mortality rates ranged from 9 to 28.10 per 100,000 population per year (country-level studies), and 3.3 to 24.4 per 100,000 population per year (regional-level studies.) The most common mechanisms of injury were traffic accidents and falls. Over time, the contribution of traffic accidents to total TBI events may be reducing. Case ascertainment and definitions of TBI are variable. Improved standardization would enable more accurate comparisons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Work, Trnava University, Trnava, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brazinova
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Work, Trnava University, Trnava, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rehorcikova
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Work, Trnava University, Trnava, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Work, Trnava University, Trnava, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Buckova
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Work, Trnava University, Trnava, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Majdan
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Work, Trnava University, Trnava, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Psota
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Wouter
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Peeters
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neuroscience, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Valery
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Feigin
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Stroke and Applied Neuroscience, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Theadom
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences and Social Work, Trnava University, Trnava, Slovak Republic.
authors.forename: Lubomir
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Holkovic
authors.affiliation: Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre, School of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.|Cochrane Consumers and Communication Review Group, Centre for Health Communication and Participation, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Anneliese
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Synnot
mesh_terms: D000070642:Brain Injuries, Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male
keywords: epidemiology; living systematic review; traumatic brain injury