Articles: traumatic-brain-injuries.
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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading contributor to emergency department (ED) mortalities in Ethiopia. Mild TBI patients comprise half of all TBI patients presenting for care in Ethiopia and have a high potential for recovery. As such, context-specific care-improving strategies may be highly impactful for this group of patients. ⋯ This study characterizes the mTBI subgroup of head injury patients in Ethiopia's busiest ED: predominantly healthy young men with low-acuity presentations and only a fraction with abnormal neurological examinations. Nonetheless, about one-third had ciTBI and a minority were taken for neurosurgical procedures or admission, with female sex and self-referral identified as protective factors. Meanwhile, many patients stayed in the ED for days due to social or other nonmedical reasons. As TBI care in Ethiopia continues to improve, optimizing care for the mTBI subgroup is tantamount given their high recovery potential. This care will benefit from efficiently identifying those who need intervention or hospital level of care, and discharging those who do not.
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Pediatric emergency care · Jun 2024
Computer Simulation to Assess Emergency Department Length of Stay in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury.
Our study aimed to identify how emergency department (ED) arrival rate, process of care, and physical layout can impact ED length of stay (LOS) in pediatric traumatic brain injury care. ⋯ Exceeding certain threshold ED arrival rates of children with traumatic brain injury can substantially increase pediatric trauma center ED LOS but modifications to ED processes and bed location may mitigate this increase.
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The incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in older individuals is increasing with an increase in the older population. For older people, the required medical interventions and hospitalization following minor head injury have negative impacts, which have not been reported in literature up till now. We aimed to investigate the risk factors for clinically important traumatic brain injury (ciTBI) in older patients with minor head injury. ⋯ In older patients with minor head injury, GCS ≤14, high-risk mechanisms of injury, vomiting, and retrograde amnesia are risk factors for ciTBI.
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Abusive head trauma (AHT) is a mechanism of pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) with high morbidity and mortality. Multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS), defined as organ dysfunction in two or more organ systems, is also associated with morbidity and mortality in critically ill children. Our objective was to compare the frequency of MODS and evaluate its association with outcome between AHT and accidental TBI (aTBI). ⋯ Abusive head trauma as a mechanism was associated with MODS following TBI. Both AHT mechanism and MODS were associated with new impairment at all time points.
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Brain contusion is a prevalent traumatic brain injury (TBI) in low-age children, bearing the potential for coma and fatality. Hence, it is imperative to undertake comprehensive research in this field. ⋯ These findings not only facilitate a comprehensive understanding of brain contusion dynamics in pediatric TBIs, but also contribute to the validation of theories and finite element models for piglet heads, which are commonly employed as surrogates for children.