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PURPOSE: The study used a retrospective cohort design to establish long-term mortality rates and predictors of mortality for persons after moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). METHOD: Consecutive records of persons with moderate to severe TBI who were discharged from a large rehabilitation hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the years 1974-1984, 1988 and 1989 were reviewed. RESULTS: Six hundred and forty-two eligible individuals were identified and mortality was ascertained up to 24 years post injury. One hundred and twenty-eight of these individuals were found to be deceased. Poisson regression analyses revealed at least a 2-fold increased risk for mortality compared to the general population. Pre-injury characteristics and levels of disability at discharge from in-patient rehabilitation were among the strongest predictors of mortality. CONCLUSIONS: These data constitute evidence for premature death in the post-acute TBI population following a moderate to severe head injury and are discussed in relation to other research in the area.
Ratcliff et al. (Tue,) studied this question.