Long-Term Mortality Rates Increase in Brain Injury Patients

What are the long-term consequences of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) even if a person seems to recover fully? According to a study published in JAMA Neurology and conducted by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, “adults who suffered any head injury during a 30-year study period had two times the rate of mortality than those who did not have any head injury, and mortality rates among those with moderate or severe head injuries were nearly three times higher.” In addition, the research showed that head injuries are also linked to other serious health conditions in the long term, including “late-onset epilepsy, dementia, and stroke.”

Our Shreveport brain injury attorneys can tell you more about the study, and we are here to help you seek financial compensation after a brain injury in a traffic collision, oilfield explosion, or other serious incident.

Learning More About the Brain Injury Study and Long-Term Consequences of Trauma 

For quite some time, the study explains, researchers have understood that there is “short-term mortality associated with head injuries,” typically in patients who have been hospitalized for treatment of a moderate or severe TBI. In general, the median number of years between an adult sustaining a head injury and dying is 4.7 years. That number includes short-term mortality rates, as well as longer term mortality rates associated with even mild TBIs.

To be sure, the new research underscores that brain injuries are “associated with increased mortality rates even long-term.” and a patient cannot assume that they will not experience consequences of a brain injury just because one or more years have passed. The mortality rates in the long term are particularly notable in patients who have sustained more than one head injury, as well as in patients with a single brain injury classified as moderate or severe.

Preventing Brain Injuries 

Brain injury prevention involves attention to the ways in which TBIs tend to occur, and the specific safety measures to prevent head trauma in particular circumstances. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies the following as key steps in avoiding a serious brain injury:

• Wearing a seat belt every time you drive or ride in a car;
• Always avoiding drugs or alcohol before driving;
• Wearing a helmet if you are riding a bicycle or motorcycle;
• Considering fall prevention; and
• Making use of safety equipment and helmets in other situations in which brain injuries may occur, from recreational sports to workplaces.

Contact a Shreveport Brain Injury Attorney 

Suffering a serious brain injury in a motor vehicle collision or another type of incident can be devastating, and severe head trauma often leads to death. Yet as the study discussed above underscores, even when a person suffers a TBI and survives, their risk of death and other serious health conditions increase substantially. If you or somebody you love sustained a TBI or another form of head trauma, it is important to seek advice about filing a claim. One of the experienced Shreveport brain injury lawyers at Rice & Kendig, LLC can speak with you today about your case.

Sources:

pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2023/january/head-injury-is-associated-with-doubled-mortality-rate-long-term

cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/prevention.html