Risk Factors for Sustaining a Traumatic Brain Injury
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 2.5 million people1 either went to the emergency room, were admitted to the hospital, or died due to suffering a traumatic brain injury (TBI). While TBIs can happen to anyone, certain factors often put individuals at a higher risk of suffering a brain injury than others. The following are a few examples of risk factors for sustaining a traumatic brain injury.
Age is a factor
Brain injuries do not discriminate based on age, however, certain age groups do have higher rates of suffering TBI. Three age groups at particularly high risks2 include as follows:
- Young children – Children from birth to age four are at a particularly high risk for suffering TBI mainly due to their tendency to be involved in falling accidents. Falls can occur to young children due to defective products, inadequate supervision, or simply due to an adult dropping them. Because young children do not have the ability to control a fall, they often land on their heads and suffer brain injuries.
- Young adults – Young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 years are at a particularly high risk of TBI for a few reasons. First, they are relatively inexperienced drivers and are often involved in car collisions, which are a leading cause of traumatic brain injury. Additionally, individuals of this age are more likely to be involved in risk-taking activities that may result in head trauma. Finally, fights and other types of assaults cause a large number TBIs among young adults.
- Elderly adults – Adults over the age of 75 are also a high-risk group for TBI. This is because they are prone to falls due to increasing challenges with balance and coordination. Furthermore, older adults have less of an ability to recover from a serious injury, so they often feel greater effects of brain injuries.
Participating in certain sports
Contact sports always present a risk of traumatic brain injury. Even if they wear helmets and other protective gear, individuals who participate in sports such as football, hockey, or boxing have a notoriously high rate of TBI. Other athletes who play sports that involve hard, fast-moving balls like baseball or tennis can also sustain TBI if they are hit by the ball.
In addition to contact sports, people who often bike, run, or walk near traffic have a high chance of being involved in an accident that can cause a brain injury.
Working in certain professions
Some of the leading causes of traumatic brain injuries are falls and being struck by an object or against an object. Not coincidentally, these are all also leading causes of injury to workers in the construction industry. Individuals who work in construction or other similarly dangerous industries commonly have to take time off work due to traumatic brain injuries. Other professions that have a higher risk of TBI include law enforcement officers due to the risk for gunshots or assaults and anyone who drives a motor vehicle as a regular part of their job.
Suffering previous brain injuries
Anyone who has suffered a prior traumatic brain injury can be at a much higher risk of sustaining a subsequent injury if they experience another jolt or blow to the head. In addition, if a person is hit in the head before a previous TBI has completely healed may be at risk for a highly dangerous condition called second impact syndrome.3 Second impact syndrome can cause severe swelling of the brain and often leads to death. Anyone with a recent brain injury should be very careful to avoid anything that puts them at risk for another TBI.
Find out how an experienced traumatic brain injury attorney can help you today
Whether you are in a high-risk group or not, if you sustain a TBI due to the negligence of another party, you deserve to obtain full and fair compensation from that party to cover all of your injury-related losses. The experienced traumatic brain injury lawyers at the Dolman Law Group will fight for your rights as an injured victim, so call today at 727-451-6900 for a free consultation.
Dolman Law Group
800 North Belcher Road
Clearwater, FL 33756
727-451-6900
https://www.dolmanlaw.com/legal-services/brain-injury-attorneys/
References:
1http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html
2http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/traumatic-brain-injury/basics/risk-factors/con-20029302
3http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2672291/
