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Abstract
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BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious global public health challenge. We aimed to assess the pattern of TBI in the Middle East, as reported in the last decade.
METHODS: Literature searches were conducted on PubMed, MEDLINE and Google scholar electronic databases. The search-terms used in different combinations were epidemiology, incidence, case fatality, mortality, intracranial injury, brain injury, head injury and the country names. Additional searches were conducted using reference lists of studies and review articles for selection of relevant articles. The search yielded 1082 articles; 701 duplicates and review articles were excluded and a further 346 articles were excluded. Finally, 35 original studies met the inclusion criteria. Data were extracted using standardized excel form and pilot tested. Median with interquartile range (IQR) was used to estimate the incidence rate and mortality of TBI.
RESULT: Middle East region median TBI incidence rate per capita was 45 (IQR 38.5, 367) per 100,000. The overall ED based TBI median mortality that included all age groups and all injury severities was 10% (IQR 7.75, 15.75). We estimated the overall median mortality for head trauma studies based on ED admissions as 6% (IQR 3, 18) among all age groups and all injury severities. Whereas, the overall TBI-related median mortality in ICU based studies was 25% (IQR 15.5, 47).
CONCLUSION: The epidemiology of TBI in the Middle East remains understudied. The use of a globally recognized definition of TBI will contribute greatly to improve its reporting, analysis, interpretation and to set appropriate injury prevention programs.
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Language: en |