Introduction
Methods
Inclusion criteria
Data extraction
Methodological quality
Data and statistical analysis
Results
Study characteristics
Reference | Source Population | Study duration and period | Study group size (included patients/source population) | 5 STROBE quality criteria |
---|---|---|---|---|
Andelic et al. (2008) [2] | Population of city Oslo, Norway | 1 year (15 May 2005–14 May 2006) | 445/543,129 | Complete |
Andelic et al. (2012) [1] | Population of Norway | 2 years (2009–2010) | 359/2,143,661 | Complete |
Andersson et al. (2003) [3] | Population based data from region of Western Sweden | 1 year (April 1992-April 1993) | 753/138,000 | Complete |
Andriessen et al. (2011) [4] | Case series: adults (>16 years) admitted to one of the 5 participating specialised trauma centres in The Netherlands | 1 year (June 2008-May 2009) | 508/not reported | Incomplete: participants |
Baldo et al. (2003) [5] | Residents of the Veneto Region of Northeast Italy | 5 years (1996–2000) | 55,368/4,480,000 | Complete |
Firsching & Woischneck (2001) [7] | Population of Germany | 1 year (1996) | 280,000/82,000,000 | Incomplete: study design, participants |
Heskestad et al. (2009) [10] | Residents of the Stavanger Region, Norway | 1 year (2003) | 585/283,317 | Complete |
Ingebritsen et al. (1998) [12] | Population of city of Tromsø, Norway and 16 surrounding municipalities | 1 year (1993) | 247/108,017 | Complete |
Katsaragakis et al. (2010) [13] | Case series: patients of 30 hospitals in Greece. Hospitals not reported. | 1 year (year not reported) | 3,383/not reported | Incomplete: setting, participants, data sources/measurement |
Koskinen & Alaranta (2008) [14] | All residents of Finland | 15 years (1991–2005) | 77,959/5,010,000 (1991)-5,250,000 (2005) | Complete |
Maegele et al. (2007) [18] | Residents of the Cologne area, Germany | 10 years (1990–1999) | 731/1,000,000 | Complete |
Masson et al. (2001) [19] | Population of Aquitaine, France | 1 year (1996) | 325/2,800,000 | Complete |
Masson et al. (2003) [20] | Population of Aquitaine, France | 1 year (1996) | 497/2,800,000 | Complete |
Mauritz et al. (2008) [22] | European Regions with different economic status (Austria [‘high income’], Solvakia and Croatia [‘upper middle income’], Macedonia and Bosnia [‘lower middle income’]) | 4.5 years (January 2001-June 2005) | 1,172/not reported | Complete |
Mauritz et al. (2014) [21] | All Austrian residents | 3 years (2009–2011) | 74,744/8,443,018 | Complete |
Numminen (2010) [24] | Population based data from region of South East Finland | 2 years (April 2002- March 2004) | 370/83,900 | Complete |
Pérez et al. (2012) [25] | Residents of Spain, 2000-2009 | 10 years (2000–2009) | 206,503/not reported | Incomplete: study size |
Puljula et al. (2013) [26] | All residents of Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland, 1999 and 2007 | 2 years (1999 & 2007) | 126 (1999)- 135 (2007)/ 369,827 (1999)- 390,038 (2007) | Complete |
Rickels et al. (2010) [27] | Residents in regions of Hannover and Münster, Germany | 1 year (March 2000-Februari 2001) | 6,783/2,200,000 | Complete |
Rosso et al. (2007) [29] | Case series: patients from five centres (Graz, Klagenfurt, Linz, Salzburg, Vienna) in Austria | 3 years (between 1999 and 2004) | 492/not reported | Complete |
Scholten et al. (2014) [30] | Population of The Netherlands | 3 years (2010–2012) | 3,762/not reported (study); 34,681/not reported (national estimate) | Incomplete: setting, study size |
Servadei et al. (2002) [31] | Residents of the Romagna Region of Italy | 1 year (1996) | 2,430/970,000 | Complete |
Servadei et al. (2002) [32] | Residents in regions of Trentino and Romagna, Italy | 1 year (1998) | 1,562 (Trentino)-2,880 (Romagna)/470,000 (Trentino)-970,000 (Romagna) | Complete |
Shivaji et al. (2014) [33] | Population of Scotland | 12 years (1998–2009) | 208,195/not reported | Incomplete: study size |
Steudel et al. (2005) [34] | Total German population | 1 year (1998) | 276,584/82,037,100 | Complete |
Stocchetti et al. (2012) [35] | Patients admitted to three neurosurgical ICUs in Milan and Monza, Italy, 1997-2007 | 11 years (January 1997-December 2007) | 1,366/not reported | Incomplete: participants |
Styrke et al. (2007) [36] | Population-based data from region of Northern Sweden | 1 year (2001) | 449/137,000 | Incomplete: setting |
Szarpak & Madziala (2011) [37] | Residents of the Piaseczno and Otwock Counties, Poland | 1 year (2009) | 1,049/not reported | Incomplete: setting, participants, study size |
Methodological quality and incidence
Reference | Inclusion criteria and case ascertainment | Case definitions | TBI severity | Incidence rate/year |
---|---|---|---|---|
Andelic et al. (2008) [2] | Persons residing in Oslo at the time of injury, hospitalised with acute TBI, during the period 2005–2006. | ICD-10 codes: S02.0-S02.9, S06.0-S06.9, S07.0, S07.1, S07.8, S07.9, S09.7-S09.9, T04 and T06. Excluded: isolated injuries to scalp, isolated facial and jaw fractures, anoxia, birth trauma, patients not living in Oslo, patients with subdural haematomas, with multiple admissions for same injury and patients admitted later than 48 h after the trauma. | GCS: 86 % mild, 7.9 % moderate, 6.1 % severe | 83.3/105 |
Andelic et al. (2012) [1] | All adults (>16 years old) residing in Norway with severe TBI admitted within 72 h after injury to a Norwegian Trauma Referral Centres during the 2-year period. | ICD-10 codes S06.0-S06.9. Severe TBI was defined as lowest unsedated GCS Score ≤8 during the first 24 h after injury. | GCS: 100 % severe | 5.2/ 105 (2009) 4.1/105 (2010) (Overall age-adjusted incidence rate) |
Andersson et al. (2003) [3] | Patients attending hospital emergency unit, discharge register, regional neurosurgical clinic and coroner’s records. | ICD-9 codes 850–854, 800–804 plus mix of clinical symptoms or signs as defined by American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine for TBI severity. | ACRM criteria: 97.5 % mild, 2.5 % moderate-to-severe | 546/105 |
Andriessen et al. (2011) [4] | Patients with TBI admitted to emergency department of one of the trauma centres. | Patients with TBI and an ED admission GCS score ≤13. TBI not further defined. Exclusion criteria: age <16 years and hospital admission >72 h after injury. | GCS: 34 % moderate, 67 % severe | Not reported |
Baldo et al. (2003) [5] | All hospital discharge records containing ICD-9-CM codes: 800.0–801.9, 803.0–804.9, 850.0–854.1. | Brain injury defined by discharge ICD codes and only cases hospitalised. | ICD/AIS: 1996 = 45 % mild, 14 % moderate, 6 % severe, 35 % unknown; 1998 = 43 % mild, 16 % moderate, 7 % severe, 33 % unknown; 2000 = 53 % mild, 13 % moderate, 18 % severe, 16 % unknown | 301/105 (1996) 249/105 (1998) 212/105 (2000) (29.4 % decrease from 1996 to 2000) |
Firsching & Woischneck (2001) [7] | Data from death certificates, Federal Board of Statistics (Hospital discharge reports). | ICD-9 codes (not reported) for hospital admitted persons. | 73 % mild | 350/ 105 (overall) 247/ 105 (mild) with intracranial lesions = 29/105 with skull fractures = 21/105 |
Heskestad et al. (2009) [10] | All head-injured patients (n = 585) referred to any department at the University Hospital of Stavanger during a 1-year period (2003). | ICD-10 codes S00 through S09 with subgroups. Head injury was defined as physical damage to the brain or skull caused by external force. Isolated injuries to the scalp, face or cervical spine and patients with birth injuries were excluded. | HISS: 26 % minimal, 58 % mild, 3 % moderate, 13 % severe | 207/105 (overall) hospital admission rate of 157/105 |
Ingebritsen et al. (1998) [12] | All head-injured patients referred first to University Hospital or admitted to any hospital department plus emergency department treated and discharged. | Head injury defined as physical damage to the brain or skull by external force and GCS and Head Injury Severity Scale. | HISS: 32 % minimal, 49 % mild | 229/105 (overall) hospital admission rate of 169/105 |
Katsaragakis et al. (2010) [13] | Trauma patients that required admission, transfer to a higher level unit or arrived dead or died in the emergency department and had had at least one brain injury. | Brain injury not defined. | Not reported | Not reported |
Koskinen & Alaranta (2008) [14] | Hospital Discharge register of the Finnish National Research Development Centre for Welfare and Health for entire 5.1 million population. | ICD-9 codes 800-801, 803, 850-854, first time admissions during 1991-96. ICD-10 codes S02.0, S02.00, S02.01, S02.1, S02.10, S02.11, S02.7, S02.70, S02.71, S02.8, S02.80, S02.81, S02.9, S02.90, S02.91, T020, S06.0, S06.1-9, first time admissions during 1997-2005. | Not reported | 97/105 (1991-1995) 102/105 (1996-2000) 104/105 (2001-2005) |
Maegele et al. (2007) [18] | 130,000 pre-hospital emergencies were screened for TBI. | Patients with a pre-hospital GCS score ≤8 and/or AIS head score ≥2 with confirmed TBI via appropriate diagnostic tests (e.g. CT). | GCS/AIS head: 100 % severe | 7.3/105 |
Masson et al. (2001) [19] | Persons admitted to hospital via an emergency service with diagnosis of severe brain injury during 1996. | Severe brain injury defined by AIS score of 4 or 5 to head region. | GCS: 100 % severe | 17.3/105 (overall) 7.2/105 (AIS head 4) 10.1/105 (AIS head 5) |
Masson et al. (2003) [20] | Patients admitted to any one of 19 public hospitals with prolonged coma. | Persons with prolonged coma or significant intra-cranial injury with coma > 24 h: coma determined from GCS of 8 or less before sedation. | AIS head: 100 % severe | 8.5/105 (248 patients registered) |
Mauritz et al. (2008) [22] | Patients with severe TBI admitted to one of the 13 tertiary-care-level centres. | Severe TBI according to the criteria defined by the US National Traumatic Coma Database: GCS score ≤8 following resuscitation or a GCS score deteriorating to ≤8 within 48 h of injury. | GCS: 100 % severe | Not reported |
Mauritz et al. (2014) [21] | Data on all hospital discharges, outpatients and in-hospital deaths due to TBI were collected from various sources (Statistik Austria, AUVA). | All hospital discharges: ICD-10 codes S06.0–S06.9, T68, or T07; Outpatients: ICD-10 code S06.0–S06.9; In-hospital deaths: ICD-10 codes S01.0–S01.9, S02.0, S02.1, S02.7, S06.0–S06.9, T01.0, T02.0, T04.0, T06.0, T90.1, T90.2, or T90.4–T90.9. | Not reported | 303/105 |
Numminen (2011) [24] | All cases (>14 years) with symptoms of brain injury after head trauma were collected from the health centres in the area covering three municipalities (Imatra, Joutenso and Lappeenranta) and from the one hospital (South Karelia Central Hospital) taking care of all corresponding TBI cases. Also death certificates were collected. | ICD-10 codes S06. Also the death certificates of patients whose main or immediate cause of death was an ICD-10 code of S06 or S07 were included. | GCS/CT: 71 % mild, 29 % severe | 221/105 mild TBI in 71 % of patients |
Pérez et al. (2012) [25] | National Hospital Discharge Register. | Emergency admissions with ICD-9 codes: 800, 801, 803, 804, 850-854. Programmed and re-admissions were excluded. | ISS: 41.1 % moderate, 26.8 % serious, 32.2 % severe | 47.3/105 (during the 9-year study period the incidence rate presents a reduction of 23.8 %) |
Puljula et al. (2013) [26] | Patients with moderate-to-severe TBI who were admitted to the ER of Oulo University Hospital, plus those who succumbed from TBI outside the hospital. Only residents of Northern Ostrobothnia were included. | Moderate-to-severe TBI defined as GCS ≤12. | GCS: 100 % moderate-to-severe | 34/105 (1999) 35/ 105 (2007) |
Rickels et al. (2010) [27] | Patients admitted to hospital emergency department in the regions due to an acute head injury with involvement of the brain. | At least one of the following symptoms or ICD-10 diagnosis codes: Symptoms: nausea or vomiting, headache, loss of consciousness with anterograde/retrograde amnesia, impaired consciousness or impaired vigilance, fracture of face and/or skull, and focal neurological symptom. ICD-10 codes: S02 without S02.5, S04, S06-S07, S09. | GCS: 90.2 % mild, 3.9 % moderate, 5.2 % severe | 332/105 |
Rosso et al. (2007) [29] | Patients admitted to one of the five Austrian hospitals. | Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 8 or less following resuscitation, which may include endotracheal intubation; or GCS score deteriorating to 8 or less within 48 h of injury. | GCS: 100 % severe | Not reported |
Scholten et al. (2014) [30] | All patients with TBI treated at an ED and/or admitted to hospital in The Netherlands in the period 2010-2012. TBI cases were extracted from the Dutch Injury Surveillance System (LIS) and the National Hospital Discharge Registry (LMR). LIS is based upon the registration of 13 hospitals in The Netherlands (12-15 % coverage). | For patients treated at the emergency department, TBI was defined as having a ‘concussion’ or ’other skull-brain injury’ in at least one of the three injuries that can be recorded in LIS. For hospitalised patients, TBI was defined using ICD-9 codes: 850, 800-801, 803, 804, 851-854, 905, 907, 950, 959. | Not reported | 213.6/105 |
Servadei et al. (2002) [31] | Patients admitted to any one of the 7 hospitals in Romagna plus pre- and in-hospital deaths. | ICD-9 codes: 800.0-800.3, 801.0-801.3, 803.0-803.3, 850, 851.0-851.1, 852.0-852.1, 853.0-853.1, 854.0-854.1 with physician diagnosed TBI. Emergency department patients treated and released were excluded. | ICD-9 codes: 81 % mild | 250/105 81 % were mild |
Servadei et al. (2002) [32] | Medical records of hospital admissions for head injury. | ICD-9 codes: 800.0-800.3, 801.0-801.3, 803.0-803.3, 850, 851.0-851.1, 852.0-852.1, 853.0-853.1, 854.0-854.1. | Not reported | 314/105 (overall) 322/105 (Trentino) 297/105 (Romagna) |
Shivaji et al. (2014) [33] | Data from Scottish Morbidity Record (SMR01) data-set. SMR01 includes all inpatients and day cases discharged from hospitals across Scotland. | ICD-10 codes: S01.0, S01.9, S02.0, S02.1, S02.3, S02.7, S02.9, S04.0, S06.0, S06.9, S07.0, S07.1, S07.8, S07.9, S09.7, S09.9, T01.0, T02.0, T04.0, T06.0, T90.1, T90.2, T90.4, T90.5, T90.8, T90.9 | Not reported | 446.4/105 (men) 194.8/105 (women) |
Steudel et al. (2005) [34] | Federal Bureau of Statistics, hospital admissions register and mortality register. | ICD 9th = 800-804, 850-854; ICD 10th = S02.0-S02.9 and S06.0-S06.9. | ICD-9 codes: 72 % mild | 337/105 (1998) |
Stocchetti et al. (2012) [35] | Admission to neurosurgical ICUs. | Admission because of head trauma, with or without extracranial injuries; brain injury severity requiring admission to ICU; time trauma-arrival <24 h; age over 18 years. Brain injury not further defined. | Not reported | Not reported |
Styrke et al. (2007) [36] | Data set from the Umeå University Hospital’s injury register. | ICD numbers for brain injuries included are within S06, also the ‘unspecified’ ICD codes were scrutinised to find ‘hidden’ cases. | GCS: 97 % mild, 1 % moderate, 2 % severe | 354/105 |
Szarpak & Madziala (2011) [37] | Based on the emergency intervention cards of Emergency Medical Service teams. | Cranio-cerebral injuries: concussion, open head wound, integument contusion, skull fracture. | GCS: 81 % mild, 10 % moderate, 9 % serious | Not reported |
Epidemiological patterns: age, sex and cause of TBI
Reference | Mean age | Male-to-female ratio |
---|---|---|
Ingebritsen et al. (1998) [12] | – | 1.7:1.0 |
Masson et al. (2001) [19] | AIS head 4: 44 years | 2.5:1.0 |
AIS head 5: 45 years | ||
Firshing & Woischneck (2001) [7] | 39 years | 2.45:1.0 |
Servadei et al. (2002) [31] | – | 1.6:1.0 |
Servadei et al. (2002) [32] | – | Romagna: 1.6:1.0 |
Trentino: 1.8:1.0 | ||
Masson et al. (2003) [20] | 41 years | 3.1:1.0 |
Baldo et al. (2003) [5] | Male, 37.7 years | 1.55:1.0 |
Female, 45.6 years. | ||
Andersson et al. (2003) [3] | Age, 27 years | 1.46:1.0 |
Steudel et al. (2005) [34] | – | Not reported |
Styrke et al. (2007) [36] | Male, 23 years | 1.2:1.0 |
Female, 22 years | ||
Rosso et al. (2007) [29] | 48.2 years | Overall: 2.6:1.0 |
Salzburg: 1.5:1.0 | ||
Maegele et al. (2007) [18] | 40.3 years | 2.7: 1.0 |
Koskinen & Alaranta (2008) [14] | 1.4–1.5:1.0 | |
Mauritz et al. (2008) [22] | 49 years | HI: 2.6:1.0 |
UMI: 4.6:1.0 | ||
LMI: 3.5:1.0 | ||
Andelic et al. (2008) [2] | 29 years. Male, 29 years. Female, 27 years | 1.8:1.0 |
Heskestad et al. (2009) [10] | – | 1.7:1.0 |
Rickels et al. (2010) [27] | – | 1.4:1.0 |
Numminen (2011) [24] | – | 1.2:1.0 |
Katsaragakis et al. (2010) [13] | – | 2.6:1.0 |
Szarpak & Madziala (2011) [37] | 42 years | 1.9:1.0 |
Male, 39 years | ||
Female, 47 years | ||
Pérez et al. (2012) [25] | – | RTA: 2.7:1.0 |
Other injury: 1.7:1.0 | ||
Stocchetti et al. (2012) [35] | 45 years | 2.85:1.0 |
Andelic et al. (2012) [1] | 46.7 years | 3.35: 1.0. |
Male, 44.8 years | ||
Female, 53.2 years | ||
Mauritz et al. (2014) [21] | 44.5 years | 1.4:1.0 |
Male, 40.9 years; female, 49.9 years | ||
Outpatients: male, 35.8 years; female, 38.6 years | ||
In-hospital deaths: 65.9 years; male, 62.5 years; female, 73.5 years | ||
Puljula et al. (2013) [26] | In 1999: overall, 44 years; male, 41 years; female, 52 years. In 2007: overall, 48 years; male, 46 years; female, 55 years | 1999: 2.6:1.0 |
2007: 3.2:1.0 | ||
Scholten et al. (2014) [30] | – | 1.35:1.0 |
Shivaji et al. (2014) [33] | – | 2.29:1.0 |
Reference | TBI severity | Study period | Most frequent cause of TBI |
---|---|---|---|
Maegele et al. (2007) [18] | Severe | 1990–1999 | RTAs (55.3 %) |
Koskinen & Alaranta (2008) [14] | All | 1991–2005 | Falls (51.8 %) |
Andersson et al. (2003) [3] | All | 1992–1993 | Falls (fall from height 27.2 %; fall same level 30.88 %) |
Ingebritsen et al. (1998) [12] | All | 1993 | Falls (62 %) |
Firsching & Woischneck (2001) [7] | All | 1996 | RTAs (56 %) |
Servadei et al. (2002) [32] | All | 1996 | RTAs (48 %) |
Masson et al. (2001) [19] | Severe | 1996 | RTAs (48.3 %) |
Masson et al. (2003) [20] | Severe | 1996 | RTAs (58.9 %) |
Stocchetti et al. (2012) [35] | – | 1997–2007 | – |
Baldo et al. (2003) [5] | All | 1996–2000 | RTAs (49 %) |
Servadei et al. (2002) [31] | All | 1998 | RTA (48 %) |
Steudel et al. (2005) [34] | All | 1998 | – |
Shivaji et al. (2014) [33] | All | 1998–2009 | Falls (47 %) |
Puljula et al. (2013) [26] | Moderate-to-severe | 1999 & 2007 | Falls (1999: 33 %; 2007: 50 %) |
Rosso et al. (2007) [29] | Severe | 1999–2004 | RTA (44 %) |
Rickels et al. (2010) [27] | All | 2000–2001 | Falls (52.5 %) |
Pérez et al. (2012) [25] | All | 2000–2009 | – |
Styrke et al. (2007) [36] | All | 2001 | Falls (55 %) |
Mauritz et al. (2008) [22] | Severe | 2001–2005 | RTAs (41 %) |
Numminen (2011) [24] | All | 2002–2004 | Falls (58.4 %) |
Heskestad et al. (2009) [10] | All | 2003 | Falls (51 %) |
Andelic et al. (2008) [2] | All | 2005–2006 | Falls (51 %) |
Andriessen et al. (2011) [4] | Moderate-to-severe | 2008–2009 | RTA (50 %) |
Szarpak & Madziala (2011) [37] | All | 2009 | Falls (29 %) |
Andelic et al. (2012) [1] | Severe | 2009–2010 | Falls (51 %) |
Mauritz et al. (2014) [21] | All | 2009–2011 | Falls (16.7 % ) |
Scholten et al. (2014) [30] | All | 2010–2012 | – |
Katsaragakis et al. (2010) [13] | – | – | RTAs (54.1 %) |
Mortality rate and case fatality rate
Discussion
Tagliaferri et al. 2006 [38] | This review | |
---|---|---|
Time period of included studies | 1980–2003 | 1990–2014 |
Number of included studies | 23 | 28 (9a) |
Number of countries | 12 | 16 |
Average incidence rate per 105/year | 235 | 326 |
Overall incidence rate per 105/yearb
| – | 262 |
Most frequent cause of TBI (number of studies) | RTAs (8) > falls (6) | Falls (14) > RTAs (11) |
Sex | Male > female | Male > female |
Average mortality rate per 105/year | 15 | 10, 5 |