Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 21, 2026
Murine Model of Controlled Cortical Impact for the Induction of Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: August 16, 2019
Screening for traumatic brain injury: findings and public health implications
Kristen Dams-OʼConnor1, Joshua B Cantor, Margaret Brown
1Departments of Rehabilitation Medicine (Drs Dams-O'Connor, Cantor, Dijkers, Spielman, and Gordon) and Preventive Medicine (Dr Brown), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
Objective:
To provide an overview of a series of projects that used a structured self-report screening tool in diverse settings and samples to screen for lifetime history of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Setting:
Diverse community settings.
Participants:
Homeless persons (n = 111), individuals with HIV seeking vocational rehabilitation (n = 173), youth in the juvenile justice system (n = 271), public schoolchildren (n = 174), substance users (n = 845), intercollegiate athletes (n = 90), and other community-based samples (n = 396).
Design:
Cross-sectional.
Main Measure:
Brain Injury Screening Questionnaire.
Results:
Screening using the Brain Injury Screening Questionnaire finds that 27% to 54% of those in high-risk populations report a history of TBI with chronic symptoms. Associations between TBI and social, academic, or other problems are evident in several studies. In non-high-risk community samples, 9% to 12% of individuals report TBI with chronic symptoms.
Conclusion:
Systematic TBI screening can be implemented efficiently and inexpensively in a variety of settings. Lifetime TBI history data gathered using a structured self-report instrument can augment existing estimates of the prevalence of TBI, both as an acute event and as a chronic condition. Identification of individuals with TBI can facilitate primary prevention efforts, such as reducing risk for reinjury in high-risk groups, and provide access to appropriate interventions that can reduce the personal and societal costs of TBI (tertiary prevention).
