Adolescents’ Drinking Habits Predict Later Occurrence of Traumatic Brain Injury: 35-Year Follow-up of the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort

The incidence of traumatic brain injury in an adult population - how to classify mild cases?

“…A recent Finnish study based on hospital discharge diagnoses found an increasing number of TBIs amongst the older age group between the years 1991 and 2005 [5], and the overall annual incidence rate during the latest period 2001-2005, was 104. Similar rates were reported in a follow-up study of the Northern Finland birth cohort [9].…”

Substance Use and Related Harms Among Adolescents With and Without Traumatic Brain Injury

“…Since use of most of the substances reported here is not initiated until grade 9 or later, we restricted the current sample to students in grades 9-12. 25 We used two subsamples in this analysis. First, a subsample of 6383 high school students in grades 9-12 who individually completed the paper and pencil survey (approximately 30 minutes long), in their classroom.…”

“…17 Substance use (including alcohol) has been identified as a risk factor for reoccurring head injuries in early adulthood. 18,[23][24][25][26] Population-based studies are needed not only to describe and track the epidemiological pattern of injury, but also to examine the relationship between TBIs and substance use problems in adolescence, to inform injury prevention and educational efforts, as well as clinical recovery and rehabilitation strategies. Thus, the aim of our study is to describe population-based estimates of the prevalence of TBI and the associations between TBI and substance misuse among a nonclinical population of adolescents.…”

Parental alcohol misuse is a powerful predictor for the risk of traumatic brain injury in childhood

“…This pattern of drinking is a major risk factor for injuries, including recurrent injuries [6] and also for TBI in young adults [7,8]. It has recently been reported that adolescents' drinking habits predict the subsequent occurrence of TBI [9], but this study did not investigate whether parental alcohol misuse is a risk factor for TBI of their children and whether childhood TBI associates with hazardous drinking habits in adolescence.…”