13% Of Older Adults Have Traumatic Brain Injury

About 13% of older adults in the United States experienced a traumatic brain injury (TBI) between August 2000 through December 2018. Those who experienced a TBI during this period were more likely to be female, and White; have normal cognition (compared to cognitive impairment or dementia); have higher education, and wealth, and be without baseline lung disease or functional impairment. Among older adults, TBI is typically due to a fall from ground level.

The incidence of TBI was established in a study that tracked about 9,200 Medicare beneficiaries over nearly 20 years. The participants' average was 75 at the . . .