National Traumatic Brain Injury Estimates
• Each year, an estimated 3.5 million people sustain a TBI annually.
• TBI is a contributing factor to a third (30.5%) of all injury-related deaths in the United States.
• About 75% of TBIs that occur each year are concussions or other forms of mild TBI.
• Direct medical costs and indirect costs such as lost productivity of TBI totaled an estimated $76.5 billion in the United States in 2000.
What are the Leading Causes of TBI?
The leading causes of TBI are:
• Falls (35.2%)
• Motor vehicle – traffic (17.3%)
• Struck by/against events (16.5%)
• Assaults (10%).1
Falls
Falls continued to be the leading cause of TBI (35.2%) in the United States. Falls cause half (50%) of the TBIs among children aged 0 to 14 years and 61% of all TBIs among adults aged 65 years and older.
Motor Vehicle-Traffic Crashes
Among all age groups, motor vehicle crashes and traffic-related incidents were the second leading cause of TBI (17.3%) and resulted in the largest percentage of TBI-related deaths (31.8%).
Struck By/Against Events
Struck by/against events, which include colliding with a moving or stationary object, were the second leading cause of TBI among children aged 0 to 14 years, with 25%.
Assault
Assaults produced 10% of TBIs in the general population; they accounted for only 2.9% in children aged 0 to 14 years and 1% in adults aged 65 years old and older.
Data Source: CDC
