Brain Injury and Implications for Brain Health

Traumatic brain injury (TBI), known as the “silent epidemic,” is a major cause of mortality and disability globally and is often unrecognized, unreported, and underdiagnosed. TBI is defined as a traumatically induced structural injury and/or physiological disruption of brain function as a result of an external force with a new onset of at least one of the following clinical signs immediately following the event: any period of loss of or a decreased level of consciousness; any loss of memory for events immediately before or after the injury; any alteration in mental state at the time of the injury; neurological deficits that may or may not be transient; intracranial lesion. TBI is categorized as mild, moderate, or severe based on the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, duration of loss of consciousness (LOC), post-traumatic amnesia (PTA), and alteration of consciousness (AOC) (Table 6.1) [1].