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Fairfield County T-Bone Accident Victims Risk Brain Injury

If you have been involved in a T-bone or side impact accident, it is imperative you watch for signs of brain injuries. Brain injuries are more likely to occur in T-bone or side-impact accidents compared with other types of Fairfield County car crashes, and brain injuries are also much more likely to be severe after a side impact collision as compared with other types of car accidents. brain copy

Watch for Signs of Brain Injury After a Side-Impact Crash

University of Rochester researchers published a study in Annals of Emergency Medicine warning of the link between traumatic brain injury and side-impact car accidents.

Researchers reviewed collision data from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, considering accidents involving 5,483 vehicles and 6,780 vehicle occupants. The data was narrowed down to 1,1115 people who'd been in vehicles where at least one person was seriously hurt in a collision.

The research revealed traumatic brain injury was three times as likely to occur in vehicle occupants (both drivers and passengers) when involved in a side-impact crash, as compared with a head-on collision or any other crash type. Based on the dramatic increased risk of head injury in side impact collisions, side-impact crashes are considered a risk factor for traumatic brain injury (TBI) even if no symptoms are immediately present.

All passengers and drivers involved in side impact crashes must be aware of elevated TBI risks. However, females especially must watch carefully for signs and symptoms of a brain injury. Because men tend to have more strength in the neck than women do, women have higher TBI rates after T-bone or side impact crashes.

Traumatic brain injuries need prompt treatment to try to minimize damages and reduce the risk of fatalities. Sometimes, severe injury to the brain causes immediate death while in other cases untreated bleeding or bruising in the brain can lead to permanent damage or death. TBI does not always cause immediate symptoms, but treatment is needed immediately to stop brain bleeds.

Traumatic brain injuries cannot always be effectively treated and side-impact crashes cause high rates of deaths in part due to elevated rates of traumatic brain injury. Depending upon data sets reviewed, as many as 51 to 74 percent of fatalities in side-impact crashes occur as a result of traumatic brain injury. When there are multiple vehicles involved in side impact collisions, traumatic brain injury is the cause of between 41 and 64 percent of fatalities.

While symptoms do not always show up right away, traumatic brain injuries can cause loss of consciousness or leaking of fluid through the nose and the ears. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns that thinking, language, emotion, and sensation can all be affected by injury to the brain.  Injury can occur and symptoms can appear even with closed head wounds, so patients cannot always count on bleeding or outward signs of head trauma to indicate internal problems.

In addition to short-term symptoms such as impaired senses, ringing in the ears, nausea, vomiting, temporary loss of consciousness, memory problems, mood changes, and anxiety, traumatic brain injuries can also increase the risk of long-term health complications. Repeated sufferers of head injuries, for example, are at significantly greater risk of dementia.

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