Incidence of Head Injury: Lasting Effects among College Students and Working Adults in the General Population

Abstract

224 (21%) of 1067 persons in a nonclinical population surveyed had one or more head injuries resulting in unconsciousness. They had a total of 306 head injuries with 113 (31%) of them resulting in lasting neurological effects. Both in a pilot project and in the main study, headache was the most commonly reported of an array of symptoms that are essentially a postconcussion syndrome.

A community survey demonstrated cohort differences in the lifetime prevalence of self-reported head injury

“…Silver et al found that respondents self-identifying with an HI reported poorer physical and emotional health, more memory problems, and more frequent receipt of welfare, providing validation of their measure. The prevalence rates reported in this and Silver's study are much lower than that reported in many convenience university samples [11,12,15,17] but greater than the prevalence (or incidence) rates based on hospital or clinic data [2,[31][32][33] or community surveys based on reported disability [13,18].…”

“…A number of studies have examined the prevalence of head injury (HI)/brain injury and associated cognitive, emotional, and behavioral problems and disability using convenience and community samples [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. There are obvious problems with simply asking about experience of HI (e.g., ensuring consistency across individuals in the severity/ clinical relevance of reported HI).…”

A population survey found an association between self-reports of traumatic brain injury and increased psychiatric symptoms

“…Two studies of college students have used questions such as "Have you ever had a head injury in which you lost consciousness?" [17], and "have you ever had a medically diagnosed head injury/illness or a period of unconsciousness of 20 or more minutes?" [18].…”

Symptom Cluster Associated with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in University Students

“…In their survey of 835 participants, 4.89% reported having suffered a head injury and 10.7% reported an unconscious episode. Triplett, Hill, Freeman, Rajan, and Templer (1996) investigated the relationship between the prevalence of head injuries and their permanent effects in 1,067 college students in the United States. Results indicated that 37% of their sample suffered permanent damage including headaches, memory loss, blurred vision, balance problems, and dizziness.…”