According to recent statistics published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 1.7 million people incur a traumatic brain injury each year. Interestingly, males and the elderly prove to be the most at-risk demographic in our society. Of those victims who suffer a brain injury annually, roughly:

• 3% die from the injury
• 16% are hospitalized following the injury
• 25% are classified as moderate to severe injuries
• 80% require trip to the emergency department of the local hospital

When further broken down by age and gender, the CDC found that age plays a large role in the likelihood of suffering a traumatic brain injury, as well as the severity of the injury. Babies, toddlers, teenagers, and the elderly are the most likely to suffer a head trauma. Further, of the overall 3% of brain injury victims who ultimately die from their injuries, a majority are aged 75 or older. Therefore, the elderly appear to be the age group which is most at-risk for suffering from this devastating injury.

Comparatively, there is also a difference between the likelihood of men versus women to be diagnosed with a TBI. Statistically, it is clear that throughout life, men are more likely to suffer a traumatic brain injury than women. For brain injuries ranging from moderate to severe, requiring various forms of treatment from a hospital visit to those that result in death, male babies and toddlers have the highest incident rates.