TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2022//
TI  - Epidemiology of traumatic brain injuries at a rural-serving Level II trauma center, 2004 - 2016
JO  - Brain injury
A1  - McCarty, Catherine A.
A1  - Renier, Colleen M.
A1  - Woehrle, Theo A.
A1  - Vogel, Linda E.
A1  - Eyer, Steven D.
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiology of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and quantify rural and urban differences. <br><br>METHODS: Patient characteristics, injury characteristics, imaging, and outcomes were extracted from the trauma registry of the level II trauma center at Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center, Duluth, MN, for patients admitted for a TBI from January 1, 2004, through December 31, 2016. Estimated relative risk (RR) per year, Wald 95% confidence intervals, and p-values were calculated. <br><br>RESULTS: Of the 5,079 TBI admissions during the study period, just under half (2,510, 49.4%) resided in rural areas at the time of admission. Overall, there was a 3.8% unadjusted annual increase in TBI risk rom 2004-2016, with 2.9% and 4.7% annual increases among rural and urban U.S. residents, respectively. Rural residents had significant annual increases in risk of TBI admission resulting in 30-day post-discharge emergency department readmission and 30-day post-discharge combined inpatient/emergency department readmission of 35.2% and 22.4%, respectively. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: We found that risk of rural resident TBI admission due to MVC was significantly greater than that for urban residents. Public health and medical interventions to decrease the rural/urban disparity are warranted, including public health campaigns to increase seat belt use, and supportive care post-discharge into rural communities.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0269-9052
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2022.2034948
ID  - ref1
ER  -