Open AccessPsychological and neuropsychological correlates of postconcussional disorder
Author(s) -
B S Joy Helena Wymer
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
neuropsychological trends
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.198
H-Index - 7
eISSN - 1970-321X
pISSN - 1970-3201
DOI - 10.7358/neur-2008-003-wyme
Subject(s) - neuropsychology , medicine , head injury , incidence (geometry) , injury prevention , occupational safety and health , demography , head trauma , poison control , psychiatry , psychology , pediatrics , medical emergency , surgery , cognition , physics , pathology , sociology , optics
Each year approximately 2 million people in the United States suffer closed head injuries (CHI); approximately 500,000 are severe enough to require hospitalization (Brown, Fann & Grant, 1994). Other researchers have estimated the incidence of CHI in the United States at over 9 million (Miller & Berenguer-Gil, 1994). CHI account for about 10% of all emergency room visits (Sherer, Madison & Hannay, 2000). This number has recently decreased, possibly due to decreased hospitalization of individuals with mild brain injuries. According to the National Head Injury and Spinal Injury Survey of 1980, the typical male is four times more likely to experience a head injury than a female (Kalsbeek, McLaughlin, Harris & Miller, 1980). Men are believed to sustain more head injuries because they have been found to be greater risk-takers, more likely to be engaged in potentially dangerous work, more impulsive, and more likely to abuse alcohol or drugs. Alcohol is reported to be involved in 30% of head injuries suffered by males and 10% of those suffered by females (Bennett, 1987).