Northern Kentucky Traumatic Brain Injury Conference 

Brain Injury Statistics
National statistics involving brain injury are staggering.  Every 7 seconds someone suffers a head (brain) injury.  Every 5 minutes someone dies from a head injury.  In total, up to 2 million people are seen in emergency rooms across the US for head injuries each year.  Of these injuries, about 200,000 of them result in death or permanent disability.  Head injuries are the number one killer of people under the age of 24 and men are 3-4 times more likely to suffer a head injury than women.  About 5% of all deaths are the result of a brain injury. 

According to information collected by the Brain Injury Alliance of Kentucky:  one in five Kentucky households is affected by a brain injury; brain injuries are six times more prevalent than breast cancer, AIDS, HIV, spinal cord injuries and multiple combined; approximately 850,000 Kentuckians live with a brain injury; brain injuries are Kentucky’s number one killer based on population; brain injuries are the leading cause of death and disability in young children; Kentucky’s occupational death rate due to brain injury is 60% higher than the national average; the brain injury death and injury rate on Kentucky Highways rose from 11% in 2000 to 29% in 2004; in the next 12 months, 22,500 Kentuckians will sustain new brain injuries severe enough to require hospital care.

The World Heath Organization (WHO) reports children are 20 times more likely to die from pediatric traumatic brain injury than from asthma, 38 times more likely to die from PTBI than cystic fibrosis, and there were twice as many children who suffered PTBI than those who received stitches in 2008.  Patrick Donohue is the leading advocate in pursing the Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury (PABI) Act, is the founder of the Sarah Jane Brain Foundation and has devoted much of his life in dealing with PABI issues and concerns.

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Head injuries can happen to anyone, anywhere at anytime.  It can happen to you in an auto accident on the way home or when you fall of a ladder while painting the house.  Brain injuries can also result from less obvious agents, such as carbon monoxide, toxic fumes, or asphyxiation. These types of injuries range from mild to moderate to severe. 

Mild injuries are the most common and least severe of the injury levels and are often times unnoticed for a while, until the victim or their family start to see changes.  Often times these changes are in mood, memory or appetite.  Although symptoms vary, the victim may start to have nausea, headaches, blurred vision, sleep problems, confusion or balance problems; symptoms they often do not correlate with a past head injury.  People suffering from moderate to severe brain injuries may have the same symptoms, but they may be intensified, as well as having other symptoms such as numbness in their limbs, pupil dilation, slurred speech or seizures.  

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Mild, moderate or severe, brain injuries can be a devastating catastrophe not only to the victim, but to their family and friends as well.  The Brain Injury Association of America estimated that in 1995 the loss due to direct medical costs and indirect costs (such as loss in productivity) was around $56.3 billion.  Lifetime monetary costs of caring for and rehabilitating an injured person can be in the multi-millions.

Even with monetary costs this high, the emotional cost may be much greater. Victims may have problems coping with the new reality that they may depend on others for the rest of their life, or that they are permanently disabled or changed.  Families will often have trouble coping with the permanent changes in their loved ones as well.  Counseling and strong support are often necessary in the rehabilitation of the victim and family. 
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