What is a Brain Injury?
Traumatic Brain Injury results in permanent neurological damage that can produce lifelong deficits in varying degrees ranging from mild to debilitating. The long term goal of brain injury rehabilitation is to decrease the handicapping effects of the disability. Traumatic brain injury can damage any area of the brain and produce impairments in the brain’s major functions including: attention, memory, problem solving, physical movements, sensory perception, judgment and reasoning, social behavior, general safety, and independence with all tasks of daily living.
Who does The Crumley House help?
The Crumley House serves the survivors of our region and beyond. Our program is unique and is the only one of its kind in the South Eastern region of the US. We have worked with survivors of local communities, survivors who have traveled from other states to participate in our program, and an international client.
Statistics:
Each year, an estimated 1.7 million people sustain a TBI annually. Of them:
- 52,000 die,
- 275,000 are hospitalized, and
- 1.365 million, nearly 80%, are treated and released from an emergency department.
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.
The number of people with TBI who are not seen in an emergency department or who receive no care is unknown.
TBI by Age
- Children aged 0 to 4 years, older adolescents aged 15 to 19 years, and adults aged 65 years and older are most likely to sustain a TBI.
- Almost half a million (473,947) emergency department visits for TBI are made annually by children aged 0 to 14 years.
- Adults aged 75 years and older have the highest rates of TBI-related hospitalization and death.
TBI by Gender
- In every age group, TBI rates are higher for males than for females.
- Males aged 0 to 4 years have the highest rates of TBI-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths.
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%); and
- 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%).
