Abstract:
Background: Most studies of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and violence are small, focus on one violent mechanism only, and are non-representative. This large, population based effort examines characteristics, circumstances of injury, treatment pathways, and outcomes of persons with TBI from all types of violence, compares them with other TBI survivors, identifies a risk-profile and examines how a violent etiology impacts later outcomes.
Methods: Medical record abstraction and telephone survey at one-year post-injury of a weighted sample of 2771 Coloradans hospitalized with TBI between January 1, 1996 and June 30, 1999.
Results: People with violently-incurred TBI are more likely to be young, male, members of minority groups, single, and pre-morbid alcohol abusers than other TBI survivors. At one-year post-injury they report less community integration, and more headaches, confusion, and sensory and attentional disturbances. Predictors of these outcomes included age, gender, injury severity and employment status
Conclusions: It appears that essentially the same factors that increase risk of sustaining a violent TBI negatively impact later outcomes as well.