TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Deaths due to traumatic brain injury in Austria between 1980 and 2012
JO  - Brain injury
A1  - Mauritz, Walter
A1  - Brazinova, Alexandra
A1  - Majdan, Marek
A1  - Rehorcikova, Veronika
A1  - Leitgeb, Johannes
SP  - 1096
EP  - 1101
VL  - 28
IS  - 8
N2  - BACKGROUND: To investigate changes in TBI mortality in Austria during 1980-2012 and to identify causes for these changes. <br><br>METHODS: Statistik Austria provided data (from death certificates) on all TBI deaths from January 1980-December 2012. Data included year/month of death, age, sex, residency of the cases and mechanism of accident. Data regarding the size of the age groups was obtained from Statistik Austria. Mortality rates (MR; deaths/10(5) population/year) were calculated for male vs. female patients and for different age groups. Changes in mechanisms of TBI were evaluated. <br><br>RESULTS: The MR decreased from 28.1 to 11.8 deaths/10(5) population/year. Traffic-related TBI deaths decreased from 62% to 9%. This caused a significant decrease in TBI deaths in younger age groups. Fall-related TBI deaths (mostly geriatric cases) remained unchanged. Falls became the leading cause; its rate increased from 22% to 64% of all TBI deaths. Thus, the mean age of fatal TBI cases increased by 20 years and the rate of cases aged <60 years decreased from 71% to 28%. Another important cause was suicide by firearms; its rate increased from 10% to 23% of all TBI deaths. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: These findings warrant better prevention of falls in the elderly and of suicides.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0269-9052
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699052.2014.904522
ID  - ref1
ER  -