Causes of TBI

The leading cause of TBI in the world is road traffic accidents, accounting for 40-50 percent of the hospitalizations for TBI.¹ Approximately 3,000 people die and 30,000 people are injured daily in traffic accidents.² As safety precautions increase in the industrialized world, mortality from road traffic accidents has declined, but the problem is increasing in developing countries.³ This epidemic of traffic accidents in developing countries is accentuated by high mortality rates:

Additional causes of TBI are falls, events where the individual is struck by or against something and assaults.

Among active duty military personnel in war zones, blasts are a leading cause of TBI.⁵ According to the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Combat Trauma Registry, during the second phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom, short-term follow-up of surviving patients with TBI revealed higher morbidity and medical utilization among the patients with more severe TBI, while mental disturbances were higher among patients with milder TBI.⁶ In previous military conflicts, brain injuries accounted for approximately 20 percent of casualties; among troops currently serving in the Middle East, however, this estimate may be even higher.^7,8 Indeed, some now consider TBI to be the "signature wound" of the Iraq war.⁹