Every year, 1.5 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury, according to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
This number of patients is eight times the number of people diagnosed with breast cancer and 34 times the number of new cases of HIV and AIDS each year. A blow or jolt to the head can cause trauma to the brain that can alter a patient’s cognitive, physical and emotional health.
“At least 5.3 million Americans currently have a long-term or lifelong need for help to perform daily activities as a result of a traumatic brain injury,” said Dr. Adrianne Noe, director of the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington. The museum will host a lecture on brain injuries on March 21 to discuss advances in rehabilitation.
“Forty percent of patients hospitalized have at least one unmet need for services one year after their injury,” Noe said.
March is National Traumatic Brain Injury Month. For more information about symptoms of a brain injury, visit ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tbi/tbi.htm.
