Clinical characteristics of patients hospitalised with traumatic brain injury in an Australian tertiary hospital

BACKGROUND: Recent studies report a global shift in the demographics of individuals sustaining a traumatic brain injury (TBI). An increasingly higher proportion of older adults now experience TBIs, falls have overtaken transport-related accidents as the leading cause of injury, and there is high prevalence of TBIs classified as mild. However, it remains unclear whether these demographic and clinical shifts are also occurring in Australia. This study aimed to examine the clinical characteristics of patients hospitalised following TBI and assess whether similar trends were evident. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in a metropolitan hospital in Sydney. Data from 260 patients were extracted and analysed. RESULTS: A total of 50% of patients hospitalised following a TBI were aged >60 years. Falls were the leading mechanism of injury (64%) for younger and older adults, and severe TBI cases (43%) were most frequently encountered. Males dominated the sample, except among adults aged >75 years, where distribution of cases was comparable for males and females. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicated that demographic trends in this Australian sample broadly reflect those reported globally, with older adults and falls predominating. Future research should focus on examining whether these findings are observed across diverse settings while improving recruitment of underrepresented populations.