Citation

Brenner EK, Grossner EC, Johnson BN, Bernier RA, Soto J, Hillary FG. Brain Inj. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/02699052.2020.1741033

PMID

32228303

Abstract

Primary Objective: This study has three goals: to determine whether there is a higher rate of traumatic brain injury (TBI) for people of color (POC), whether TBI studies report racial/ethnic demographics, and whether there is a discrepancy in discharge destinations between Whites and POC. We examined whether 1) a higher percentage of POC would sustain head injuries than expected, 2) the majority of TBI studies examined (>50%) would not include racial/ethnic demographics, and 3) Whites would be discharged to further treatment over POC.Research Design: Retrospective study and literature review.Methods and Procedures: Data from the Pennsylvania Trauma System Foundation was used to determine the number of POC with TBI using X² analysis, as well as where patients with TBI were being discharged using a configural frequency analysis. PubMed was used for the literature search to examine the frequency of reporting race/ethnicity in TBI literature.Main Outcomes and Results: Results demonstrated that Blacks sustain more TBIs than would be expected (p < .05), the majority of scientific studies (78%) do not report racial/ethnic demographic information, and Whites are discharged to further care more often than POC.Conclusions: These findings highlight differences in incidence and treatment of TBI between White individuals and POC, raising important considerations for providers and researchers.

Language: en

Keywords

Race; TBI; brain injury; ethnicity; outcome