Improving Traumatic Brain Injury Care and Research: A Report From the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Bowman et al describe a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine about postinjury care for traumatic brain injury (TBI), with the aims of reducing associated disability and morbidity and enhancing the value and effectiveness of TBI care. TBI encompasses injuries of vastly different severity and causation ranging from concussions during sports participation, to head trauma from falls in older adults, to skull fractures from automobile crashes, to penetrating wounds from projectiles and military combat, and to many other causes of neurotrauma. TBI is more than an acute event. Although many individuals who experience a so-called mild TBI, such as a concussion, recover in weeks, others report ongoing symptoms for much longer.