Increased Rates of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Among Older Adults in US Emergency Departments, 2009-2010.

The study used emergency department visit records, not individual patient follow-up, so it cannot show what happened to older adults after a mild traumatic brain injury diagnosis. Mild traumatic brain injury was identified from diagnosis codes and Glasgow Coma Scale scores, and many records had missing Glasgow Coma Scale scores, so some cases may be misclassified. Visits that led to hospitalization were excluded, so the results do not describe older adults admitted after mild traumatic brain injury. The survey had only three diagnosis code fields, so some mild traumatic brain injury visits may have been missed. Comorbidities were poorly reported, so common older adult conditions and medications were not examined. The study did not include federal, military, or Veterans Administration hospitals. The data are at the visit level, so a person with multiple visits may be counted more than once.

Do not read these counts as confirmed individual mild traumatic brain injury cases. They are national estimates from emergency department visit records, many cases had missing Glasgow Coma Scale scores, and hospitalized visits were excluded.