June is Brain Injury Awareness Month - here are some facts about brain injuries that you may not know: The annual incidence of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is greater than that of Multiple Sclerosis, Spinal Cord Injury, HIV/AIDS and Breast Cancer combined. (onf.org) Neurotrauma injuries (brain injury, spinal cord injury) impact over half a million Ontarians and create a cost burden to the province in the order of 2 to 3 billion annually. (onf.org) 50,000 Canadians sustain brain injuries each year, and incidence rates are rising. (torontorehab) Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is the leading killer and disabler of Canadians under the age of 40. (torontorehab) More than 11,000 Canadians die each year as a result of TBI. (torontorehab) Motor Vehicle Collisions account for more than 50 per cent of all TBI. (torontorehab) You don’t have to be knocked unconscious to sustain a brain injury. Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), also known as concussion, can damage your brain at the cellular level. (torontorehab) Young males are twice as likely as females to sustain a brain injury; though in the elderly, the numbers are about the same. (torontorehab) After one brain injury, you are at three times greater risk for a second brain injury and eight times greater for other bodily injuries. (torontorehab) Injury is the leading killer of Canadian children and youth. 50 per cent of all deaths from injury are from brain injuries. (thinkfirst.ca) Thirty per cent of all traumatic brain injuries are sustained by children and youth, many of them while participating in sports and recreational activities. (thinkfirst.ca) A study has found that more than half of Toronto’s homeless population has a TBI. Even more concerning, for 70 percent of those surveyed, the first TBI occurred before becoming homeless. (torontorehab) Research shows that, of 235 provincial prison inmates interviewed, 44% reported a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI). (Colantonio A, Kim H, Asbridge M, Allen S, Brochu S. Traumatic brain injury and violence in an Ontario prison population. )
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 02:16:33 +0000