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Traumatic brain injury results principally from vehicular incidents, falls, acts of violence, and sports injuries and is more than twice as likely to occur in men as in women. The estimated incidence rate is 100 per 100000 persons, with 520 00 annual deaths. The highest incidence is among persons aged 15 to 24 years and 75 years or older, with a less striking peak in incidence in children aged 5 years or younger. Since TBI may result in lifelong impairment of physical, cognitive, and psych osocial functioning and prevalence is estimated at 2.5 million to 6.5 million individuals, TBI is a disorder of major public health significance. Mild TBI is significantly underdiagnosed and the likely societal burden is therefore even greater. Given th e large toll of TBI and absence of a cure, prevention is of paramount importance. However, the focus of this conference was the evaluation of rehabilitative measures for the cognitive and behavioral rehabilitation strategies for individuals with TBI. Th is research needs to be replicated in larger, more definitive clinical trials and, thus, funding for research on TBI needs to be increased. |
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