National Intrepid Center zeroes in on traumatic brain injury

WASHINGTON — Defense Medical Surveillance System and Theater Medical Data figures show that more than 339,000 service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury since 2000.

Traumatic brain injuries, or TBIs, are a contributing factor to a third of all injury-related deaths in the United States, the numbers reveal.

In the United States, an estimated 1.7 million people suffer a TBI annually. Of them, 52,000 die, 275,000 are hospitalized, and 1.365 million – nearly 80 percent – are treated and released from an emergency department.