Pennsylvania patients who have had a mild traumatic brain injury may be interested to learn that an estimated 30 percent of sufferers experience outcomes that are unfavorable at the sixth-month mark following an injury. However, the associated study did not differentiate between patients who were hospitalized or not hospitalized. As such, researchers set out to determine if there were differences in the outcomes between hospitalized and non-hospitalized mild traumatic brain injury sufferers.
Patients who were hospitalized following a mild traumatic brain injury were generally more severely injured than those who were not hospitalized. Additionally, the care guidelines that the doctors and medical staff used were also different than the ones used for those who were not hospitalized. For example, hospitalized patients were recommended to have follow-up care while those who were not hospitalized were told to get follow-up care only if they experienced consistent complaints.
The study found that participants experienced an average of five complaints post-injury, regardless of whether or not they were hospitalized. At the sixth-month mark, it was found that 46 percent of patients who had not been hospitalized reported at least one post-injury complaint while 61 percent of hospitalized patients reported at least one post-injury complaint. Ultimately, researchers said that follow-up care was extremely important for all patients who had suffered a mild traumatic brain injury.
When a person suffers a brain injury, even if it is mild, he or she could experience symptoms days to months following the injury. In some cases, the symptoms could include a change in behavior, loss of mobility and loss of cognitive function. As such, a person who suffers a head injury in a car crash or another type of accident may be able to seek compensation. A personal injury attorney could file a claim against the party responsible for causing the accident.