The Epidemiology and Cost of Hospital-Treated Traumatic Brain Injuries: a 10-Year Nationwide Survey in Taiwan

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most common types of injury, especially among young adults. Methods: This study used the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database to evaluate the incidence and medical cost of TBI in Taiwan. Multi-level logistic regression models were used to assess the correlations between factors. Results: A total of 290,114 subjects were included from 2002 to 2011. The incidence of head injury was around 126.1 cases per 100,000 population per year. Around 1/3 of TBIs were caused by traffic accidents, and the mortality rate was lower than 4%. The incidences of TBI in males were significantly higher than those in females in all age groups. The average length of stay was 11.53 days. The average total medical cost was $USD 2809.24. The incidence of TBI was significantly higher in subjects aged 25 to 44 years (25.58%) and those aged 45 to 64 years (24.95%). Conclusion: The incidences of TBI vary in hospitals of different levels and in different regions. Acute subdural hematoma (SDH), traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) and traumatic intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) have higher severities than other TBIs, especially at the older ages. The male TBI subjects had both a higher incidence and a higher mortality rate than the female subjects in all age groups and TBI groups, with the exception of SAH.