Brain Trauma Cases Rise in New Hampshire

A report from New Hampshire’s Health and Human Services Department says traumatic brain injuries have nearly doubled in the state over the past decade.

The report says from 2001 to 2009, the number of people taken to emergency rooms for brain trauma went from 6,514 to 12,306.

Half of those patients were younger than 24, reflecting damage from car accidents, sports and other activities. Also at risk are baby boomers and seniors whose injuries often are caused by falls.

The Telegraph of Nashua reports that despite the increase, as well as a similar increase in hospital in-patient stays, the report indicates that the number of deaths from traumatic brain injury rose only slightly. It fluctuated each year between 170 and 210.

The report said: the state had one death for each 45 emergency visits, compared to one death for 26 visits throughout the U.S.

Officials also tried to put a dollar figure on rise in injuries. It estimated that from 2000-04, the “cost of fatalities” due to traumatic brain injury totaled $568 million. Each cost an estimated $3.24 million, a figure that “takes into account the medical costs, lost productivity and quality of life costs,” the report said.

It said in 2003, each hospitalization due to traumatic brain injury cost an estimated $701,278 in New Hampshire.