TBI Data Collection

Alaska Profile
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Data Collection Information

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Surveillance
Alaska is one of 12 states receiving CDC funding for ongoing, systematic collection and analysis of TBI data as part of the Traumatic Brain Injury Surveillance Program. Through this program, each participating state characterizes TBI risk factors, incidence, external causes, severity, and short-term outcomes via population-based surveillance of TBI-related hospitalizations and deaths.

Lead agency: Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
Phone: 907-465-3027
Fax: 907-465-4101
Website: health.hss.state.ak.us   

 
Program Spotlight 

TBI Surveillance in Alaska: Utilizing trauma registry data

Alaska currently lacks a statute specifically for traumatic brain injury (TBI) data collection. Through legislative authority for the collection of trauma registry data, however, the state is able to systematically monitor the incidence, severity, and causes of TBI. In fact, the Alaska State Trauma Registry is the main data source that the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services uses for TBI surveillance.

In Alaska, all acute-care medical hospitals in the state report – by law and in practice – data and information on hospitalized patients with TBI (as defined by ICD-9-CM injury codes) to the state trauma registry. Alaska’s trauma registry has been a useful source of TBI surveillance data because it is population-based and it does not exclude cases based on severity of injury, as do some state trauma registries focused on more severe cases. 

The CDC-funded Alaska TBI Surveillance Program augments the data obtained via the state’s central trauma registry with data on out-of-hospital deaths related to TBI from the Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics. 

Alaska uses the data from their TBI surveillance program to evaluate the quality of trauma patient care, to identify populations at increased risk for sustaining TBI, to follow trends, and to develop and evaluate prevention initiatives. 

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