No abstract

Introduction: The main cause of death in Colombia is the violence, in which 49% to 70% correspond to traumatic brain injury (TBI). There are publications in Colombia that expose the epidemiology of this national catastrophe, but there are a few studies that follow the neurological-functional state after the head injury on this patient. Objectives: To know the functional state after one year following a traumatic brain injury on patients. Methods: A cohort of patients that were hospitalized on the Hospital Universitario del Valle, Cali, Colombia, with traumatic brain injury between July 2003 and June of 2004. The Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) scale was apply when the patient leave the hospital, and at the first and twelve month after the brain injury. Results: 2049 patients were include on the study. 83% were men. 53% of them were classified as mild TBI, 31% moderate and 16% severe by the Glasgow Score Scale. The mortality was 13% intrahospital (0.3%, 1.4% y 8% of mortality en mild, moderate and severe respectly), and after a year of TBI the mortality was 14%, and 85% of the patients was on GOS of 4 and 5. Conclusions: The incidences of the variables evaluated on the TBI patients on the present study are similar to the world literature series. After 12 months, the followed up of functional state and the mortality of TBI patients were similar to the data of countries of high technology and developed.