Appendix E
Overview of Traumatic Brain Injury Surveillance Activities Funded By The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

 

 

 
I. Basic Surveillance: Defining the Magnitude of the Problem, Identifying Causes and High Risk Groups

 

In 1995, CDC funded TBI surveillance efforts in 4 states and developed Guidelines for Surveillance of Central Nervous System Injury.3 These surveillance efforts expanded with the implementation of Public Law 104-166, the Traumatic Brain Injury Act of 1996. Under the TBI Act, the CDC has developed a uniform reporting system to answer questions about the incidence and causes of TBI deaths and hospitalizations. The surveillance program currently supports data collection in the following 15 states:

Alaska       California     Maryland       Nebraska         Rhode Island

Arizona      Colorado       Minnesota     New York         South Carolina

Arkansas    Louisiana      Missouri       Oklahoma         Utah

 
II. Outcomes Surveillance: The Colorado and South Carolina Traumatic Brain Injury Follow-up Systems

 

In 1995, CDC funded a follow-up study in Colorado to describe TBI-related disability, use of services, and other outcomes. A similar project was begun in South Carolina in 1998 including people with TBI aged 15 years or older. These projects:

  1. Each year, select a representative sample of people identified by surveillance who have been hospitalized and survived with a TBI
  2. Locate each person in the sample within one year of their injury
  3. Contact them and obtain consent to do a telephone interview
  4. Interview each person about a wide range of outcomes and service needs (approximately 40 minutes); proxies are interviewed if the person is unable to participate themselves
  5. Track each person and interview them again at 2 and 3 years post-injury
  6. Analyze and report the results

Project Strengths

  • Population-based findings with the potential to generalize results to all people aged 16 years or older who have been hospitalized with a TBI
  • Wide range of outcomes assessed using both standardized and nonstandardized measures
  • Focus on "macro" outcomes relevant to policy-makers
  • Potential to build a case for the needs of people with TBI
  • The addition of a comparison group to the SC study to better delineate the impact of TBI

Project Limitations

  • Outcomes are assessed in limited detail.
  • Self-report may not be valid among people with decreased awareness of problems.
  • Loss to follow-up is high (approx. 35% at one year, 10-15% at years 2 and 3).
  • Do not include people with less severe TBI seen in the ED or not receiving medical care.
  • Do not include children and adolescents.

 

III. Future Directions: Adding Children and Adolescents to the TBI Outcomes Surveillance Projects

 

Obtaining population-based TBI outcomes data for children and youth is a high priority for the Advisory Committee of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, the Brain Injury Association and a wide range of experts and professionals who participated in the CDC-sponsored TBI in Public Health Meeting in April 1999. The TBI Act Reauthorization of 2000 also highlights it as a priority activity.

 

 

 

This page last modified on September 19, 2006

Privacy Notice - Accessibility

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control