ABSTRACT
A Brief Epidemiology of Traumatic Brain Injury Traumatic brain injury occurs as a result of an external event such as an assault, fall, or trac accident, as distinct from an internal event such as a stroke or brain infection. It is dicult to obtain precise data regarding the incidence of traumatic brain injury, owing to variations in denition and methods of data collection. Jennett and MacMillan (1981) cited estimates of the incidence of hospitalization following head injury in Britain and the United States as between 200 and 300 per 100,000 of the population. Within the United Kingdom, the Department of Health Web site brieng paper on National Service Frameworks stated that head injury accounts for 10% of all accident and emergency attendances, and hospital admission occurs for 300 per 100,000 population. Although most head injuries are minor, 4 persons per 100,000 population have handicap or disability six months aer a head injury, and 0.37 per 100,000 require long-stay care as a
result of traumatic brain injury. ornhill et al. (2000) reported high rates of moderate or severe disability at one year post injury in a study of mild, moderate, and severe head injuries (disability rates of 47%, 45%, and 48%, respectively) in Glasgow.
