Health service use for patients with traumatic brain injury

Overall, 7.3% of patients in the cohort presented to the ED in the week following their initial TBI hospitalisation (Figure 18; Table S11). The percentage of patients presenting to ED dropped to 3.3% by the second week after hospitalisation and 2.1% in weeks 3 to 4. By the fourth week after the initial hospitalisation, the percentage of patients presenting to the ED was equivalent to the percentage of the cohort presenting to the ED at least 4 weeks before hospitalisation. Some patients presented more than once, with over 2,000 total ED presentations during this period (Table S12).

In the week before initial TBI admission, 2.9% of patients in the cohort presented to ED (excluding the ED presentations that led to the initial TBI hospitalisation). Again, some of these patients presented more than once, with 1,800 ED presentations in this time period (Table S12).

Figure 18: Percentage of cohort patients with an ED presentation in the two years before and after the initial TBI presentation

Note: Excludes presentations to emergency department on day of, or day before initial TBI admission.
Source: NIHSI AA v0.5.