Decoding health status transitions of over 200 000 patients with traumatic brain injury from preceding injury to the injury event

Abstract

For centuries, the study of traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been centred on historical observation and analyses of personal, social, and environmental processes, which have been examined separately. Today, computation implementation and vast patient data repositories can enable a concurrent analysis of personal, social, and environmental processes, providing insight into changes in health status transitions over time. We applied computational and data visualization techniques to categorize decade-long health records of 235,003 patients with TBI in Canada, from preceding injury to the injury event itself. Our results highlighted that health status transition patterns in TBI emerged along with the projection of comorbidity where many disorders, social and environmental adversities preceding injury are reflected in external causes of injury and injury severity. The strongest associations between health status preceding TBI and health status at the injury event were between multiple body system pathology and advanced age-related brain pathology networks. The interwoven aspects of health status on a time continuum can influence post-injury trajectories and should be considered in TBI risk analysis to improve prevention, diagnosis, and care.

Gender versus sex in predicting outcomes of traumatic brain injury: a cohort study utilizing large administrative databases

“…However, sex and gender has been successfully integrated into rehabilitation sciences brain injury research to help explain differences in health and functional outcomes between and within male and female persons 4 – 6 . For example, sex affects the risk of developing certain diseases before and after TBI due to a range of genetic, hormonal, and metabolic factors that shape distinctive patterns of morbidity and mortality 7 , 8 . Meanwhile, gender is linked to a propensity to engage in risk-taking behaviors and exposure to violence 9 , 10 .…”

Gender versus sex in predicting outcomes of traumatic brain injury: A cohort study utilizing large administrative databases

“…However, sex and gender are often integrated into rehabilitation sciences brain injury research which highlighted that the integration of both sex and gender is essential as it might help in explaining differences in health and functional outcomes between and within male and female persons [4][5][6] . For example, sex affects the risk of developing certain diseases before and after TBI due to a range of genetic, hormonal, and metabolic factors that shape distinctive patterns of morbidity and mortality 7,8 . Meanwhile, gender is linked to a propensity to engage in risk-taking behaviors and exposure to violence 9,10 .…”