Ethnic Status and Traumatic Brain Injury

Past Studies

Past Studies report that when compared to the general population, individuals of ethnic minority status appear to experience both a greater number of traumatic brain injuries and less severe traumatic brain injuries. Violence has been the leading cause of traumatic brain injury for minorities. Minorities appear to make similar recoveries as non-minorities, but have a shorter length of stay in acute rehabilitation. Additionally, minorities report lower pre-injury socioeconomic, educational, and employment status, to which they returned after experiencing a traumatic brain injury. Past studies have not examined the extensive information collected in the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems’ (TBIMS) database to see what differences ethnicity makes for individuals who experience traumatic brain injury.

This Study

This Study analyzed information about 852 individuals of ethnic minority status and 1,518 individuals of non-minority status in the TBIMS database. The database contains information collected by the 17 TBIMS that provided services to 2,600 individuals with traumatic brain injury during the acute hospital stay and in the community after discharge. The researchers found that individuals of ethnic minority status with brain injuries were mostly young men who were single, unemployed, and less well educated. If employed, they tended to work a longer workweek than non-minorities. The most frequent cause of traumatic brain injury was motor vehicle crashes, which also is the leading cause of traumatic brain injury for non-minorities. Minorities appeared to have more brain injuries caused by violence and being hit by a car than non-minorities. Overall, minorities experienced less severe brain injuries, spent less time as inpatients in rehabilitation, and received less frequent and less intense therapies. Their abilities after rehabilitation were the same as non-minorities.

Who May Be Affected By These Findings

Individuals of ethnic minority status, persons with brain injuries, health care providers, public health and prevention specialists, and researchers

Caveats

The individuals for this study were mainly from large urban areas where the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems are located. To provide even a clearer picture of the minority experience with traumatic brain injury, future studies will need to examine more factors, such as urban, rural, and suburban populations; access to health care, and type of insurance.

Bottom Line

In this study, individuals of ethnic minority status at-risk for traumatic brain injury tended to be young, single, high school educated, unemployed males. The leading cause of traumatic brain injury, as for non-minorities, was motor vehicle crashes. Minorities received more traumatic brain injuries from violence and from being a pedestrian hit by a car than non-minorities. Minorities tended to experience less severe traumatic brain injuries, less inpatient days in rehabilitation, and less frequent and intense levels of therapies. Their functional recoveries were the same as non-minorities. The authors suggest that healthcare providers consider the results of this study to provide culturally sensitive services.