Findings from a psychiatric study conducted by Seena Fazel, M.D., of the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and her team of colleagues, show that patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) have a higher risk of premature death, particularly from suicides, injuries and assaults. According to the study background, TBI is a substantial cause of disability.

The team of researchers studied all patients born in 1954 or later in Sweden who were diagnosed with TBI from 1969 to 2009, amounting to a total of over 200,000 people.

Among 11,053 patients with premature death after TBI, 2,378 (21.5%) died six months or later after diagnosis. The authors compared mortality rates six months or more after TBI with controls (n=2,163,190) and unaffected siblings of patients with TBI (n=150,513).

Compared to patients without TBI, those who had survived six months following TBI displayed a higher risk of dying, with the risk remaining for years after the TBI.

Death from external causes, including suicide, injury and assault, also was a higher risk and if they had psychiatric or substance abuse conditions, patients with TBI also were at risk for premature death with 61% of premature deaths in TBI patients with a psychiatric or substance abuse diagnosis.

The authors concluded that current clinical guidelines may need revision to reduce mortality risks beyond the first few months after injury, and address high rates of psychiatric comorbidity and substance abuse.

Source: JAMA 

16 January 2014

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Research, Brain, Guidelines, Injury, trauma, TBI, Psychiatry, suicide, death Findings from a psychiatric study conducted by Seena Fazel, M.D., of the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and her team of colleagues, show that patien...