Traumatic Brain Injuries, or TBIs, happen at any age, but kids, young adults, and older people have the highest rate. TBI can be caused by almost any situation where a sudden impact to the head causes injury. These injuries can lead to serious consequences later in life, including long-term neurological effects. TBIs are also a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. According to CDC statistics, there were more than 68,000 deaths associated with TBIs in the US in 2023.
Falls are the most common cause of TBI, particularly among older adults, and slipping on ice is one common example. Motor vehicle crashes, assaults and violence, and firearm-related incidents can also lead to TBI.
Knowing what causes a TBI, like falling down the stairs, driving recklessly, and sports accidents, helps a person engage in measures to protect themselves, either through installing more handrails and buckling up and wearing helmets.
How the Brain Gets Hurt
As per NINDS (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke), a TBI can result from any brain injury caused by any blow, sudden jolt, or bump to the head or body. Worse still, it can be an object that enters the brain.
Blows to the head do not always cause a TBI. A closed injury occurs when a blow does not pierce the skull but displaces the brain within it. If there is an object that pierces the skull and gets lodged in the brain, it is known as a penetrating injury.
For mild TBIs and concussions, the CDC says a hit to the body can do the same damage when it sends the head and brain moving quickly back and forth. That motion can shift or twist the brain and stretch or harm brain cells.
Falls Lead the List
Millions of adults aged 65 and older fall each year. More than one in four older adults falls annually. Sadly, fewer than half report it to their doctor. And worse still, those who have fallen once are twice as likely to fall again.
In CDC’s 2018 hospitalization data, adults 75 and older had the highest rate, and falls made up 82.0% of hospitalizations in that age group. NINDS adds that falls turn up most often in the youngest and oldest age groups.
Vehicle Crashes
Motor vehicle crashes ranked second in that same report, at 23.8% of hospitalizations. Falls and crashes together accounted for about 75%. In contrast to what was observed before, younger people in this category (those between the ages of 15 and 34) experienced a high number of crashes and had high crash rates. Unlike other categories of accidents, the NINDS counted automobile accidents, pedestrian-vehicle crashes, and bicycle accidents as crashes in this category.
Crash cases come in many forms, including car, truck, motorcycle, and pedestrian matters, and personal injury practices like Dinh Law Firm, P.C. list these among their work.
Sports, Blunt Force, and Violence
Being struck by or against an object belongs on the list, and NINDS says that includes many sports injuries. It accounted for 2.4% of hospital stays in the 2018 data, but the said report covers hospitalizations only and leaves out injuries treated in an emergency department alone. Almost 6% of TBI-related hospitalizations resulted from assaults. Violence as classified by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke includes intimate partner violence, shaken baby syndrome, and gunshot wounds to the head.
Blasts and Other Settings
Blast exposure is another cause of TBI. NINDS describes blast trauma as a common injury among military service members and says most of those injuries fall into the mild category.
The leading causes of traumatic brain injuries vary by age. Falls are the most common cause of TBI-related hospitalizations, according to the CDC. This phenomenon happens particularly among older adults. Motor vehicle crashes were another major cause. The highest crash-related hospitalization rates are among people ages 15 to 34.
Assaults and other incidents also contributed to these injuries. Because these findings are based on 2018 hospitalizations, they should be considered separately from the CDC's 2023 TBI-related death statistics.
