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Brain Injury Statistics Reference Page

The statistics below are used as reference sources for various Centre for Neuro Skills educational materials, including LAM Cards and clinical presentations. Sources are reviewed and updated periodically to ensure accuracy and consistency.

STATISTIC SOURCE YEAR
Over 5.3 million people are living with a brain injury-related disability Combined Fact Sheet 2023
  • Every 9 seconds, someone in the US sustains a brain injury.
 BIAA Fact Sheet 2021
  • More than 3.6 million people sustain an ABI.
 BIAA Fact Sheet 2021
  • At least 2.8 million sustain a TBI.
 BIAA Fact Sheet 2021
  • 2.9 million TBI-related emergency department visits each year.
 BIAA Fact Sheet 2025
  • 214,000 TBI-related hospitalizations.
 CDC 2020
  • More than 69,000 related deaths.
 CDC 2021
  • Annually, more than 90,000 individuals are left with long-term disability from TBI.
 CDC 2024
  • 40% of those hospitalized with TBI had at least one unmet need for service one year after their injury.
 Journal of Neuroscience Nursing 2009
Populations at Risk
  • TBI is the leading cause of death and disability among children and adolescents, with the two age groups at highest risk being 0–4 and 15–19.
 CDC 2018
  • Males are nearly two times more likely to be hospitalized and three times more likely to die from a TBI than females.
 CDC 2024
  • The highest TBI-related hospitalization and death rates occurred among individuals 75 years and older.
 CDC 2024
Leading Causes of Traumatic Brain Injury
  • Falls: 48%
 BIAA Fact Sheet 2021
  • Motor vehicle accidents: 13%
 BIAA Fact Sheet 2021
  • Struck by or against: 17%
 BIAA Fact Sheet 2021
  • Assaults: 9%
 BIAA Fact Sheet 2021
  • Unknown/Other: 13%
 BIAA Fact Sheet 2021
Comparison of Prevalence Rates (Total)
  • MS: 1M
 National MS Society 2019
  • SCI: 302,000
 National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center 2023
  • HIV/AIDS: 1.2M
 HIV.gov 2023
  • Prostate Cancer: 3.3M
 American Cancer Society 2023
  • Breast Cancer: 4.1M
 American Cancer Society 2024
  • Brain Injury: 12–15M living with a BI
 CDC 2024
  • Stroke: 7M
 JAMA Neurology 2018
  • TBI: 5.3M
 NIH 2025
  • Brain Tumor: 1.3M
 SEER 2022
  • Aneurysm: 6.7M
 Brain Aneurysm Foundation / Mayo Clinic 2021
Comparison of Annual Rates
  • MS: 9,388
 Frontiers 2021
  • SCI: 18k
 Spinalcord.com 2023
  • HIV/AIDS: 32k
 HIV.gov 2022
  • Prostate Cancer: 255k
 CDC 2022
  • Breast Cancer: 280k
 CDC 2022
  • Brain Injury: 3.6M
 BIAA Fact Sheet 2021
  • Stroke: 795k
 CDC
  • TBI: 2.8M
 BIAA Fact Sheet 2021
  • Brain Tumor: 25k
 SEER 2025
  • Aneurysm: 30k
 Brain Aneurysm Foundation
  • Viral Encephalitis: 11–24k
 Johns Hopkins
Cost of Traumatic Brain Injury
  • $40.6 billion in direct medical costs annually in the United States.
 CDC 2016
  • $36 billion in indirect costs
    (lost wages, lost time at work, social service costs)
 Medical Care 2016
  • $31.7 billion in hospitalization costs.
 Newsom Law/CDC
  • $16.6 billion associated with fatalities.
 Newsom Law/CDC
  • Catastrophic injuries represent less than 0.1% of all workers’ compensation claims but account for more than 20% of claim reserve dollars.
 Business Insurance 2024
  • $85k to $4 million
    Average lifetime cost per incident of moderate to severe TBI.
 TBI
  • Federal program funding specific to TBI at CDC is ≈ $6.7M/year, or about $1–$2 per person living with TBI-related disability in the U.S.
 BIAA
Stroke Incidence / Statistics
  • One person every 40 seconds.
 CDC 2024
  • 795,000 new or recurrent strokes annually.
 CDC 2024
  • 38% of people hospitalized for stroke are under age 65.
 CDC 2024
  • Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability in the USA.
 CDC 2024
  • Stroke is the 4th leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer.
 CDC 2023
  • Annual cost: $56.2B
    Stroke-related medical costs and disability paid by Americans, 2017.
 CDC 2020
  • Stroke is a leading cause of death for women—1 in 5 between the ages of 55–75 will have a stroke.
 CDC 2024
MTBI Incidence / Statistics
  • An estimated 80% of all TBI are categorized as MTBI.
 PMC PubMed Central 2022
  • A significant proportion of mild traumatic brain injuries are not recorded or treated, complicating accurate incidence estimates.
 PMC PubMed Central 2021
  • Up to 30% of individuals who sustain a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) develop persisting symptoms after concussion.
 JAMA Network 2025
  • Annual cost: $25.5 billion
    Federal Government termed “concussions a serious public health problem.”
 CDC 2003
COVID-19 Incidence in the US
  • About 1 in 3 people who recover from COVID-19 experience neurological or cognitive symptoms in the following year.
 NIH PubMed 2023
  • Almost 60% of Americans (≈ 200 million people) showed evidence of past COVID-19 infection by February 2022.
 CDC 2022
  • Of those hospitalized with COVID-19, approximately 82% developed neurologic complications and about 49% developed acute encephalopathy.
 JAMA Network 2021
  • The most common neurologic symptoms include:
    • Difficulties with attention and concentration
    • Fatigue
    • Poor memory
    • Sleep disturbance
    • Dysnomia (problems with word finding)
  • These symptoms were diagnosed in 73–86% of individuals diagnosed with Long COVID. Additionally, moderate to severe anxiety and depression were diagnosed in 27–34% of individuals diagnosed with Long COVID.
 Frontiers 2025
  • A 2021 study of hospitalized patients at 3 months found:
    • 60% of the patients reported pain symptoms.
    • 71% of the patients still experienced neurological symptoms.
    • 42% reported fatigue.
    • 25% reported PTSD.
 Frontiers 2021
  • Presently, approximately 18 million Americans are diagnosed with Long COVID.
 Frontiers 2025
Sleep
  • Disruptive sleep is one of the most troubling realities of a brain injury, affecting up to 70% of those with a brain injury.
 Viola-Saltzman, M., & Watson, N. F. 2012
Nonspeaking Patients Communication Support
  • Enhancing non-speaking communication with patients checklist.
 NIH 2014
  • Address communication breakdowns: Use PURE statements.
 Aphasia Library n.d.
Cognitive Rehabilitation
  • Cognitive rehabilitation is a systematically applied set of medical and therapeutic services to improve cognitive function.
 Brain Injury Association of America 2006
  • fMRI research demonstrated changes in the pattern and extent of brain activation following cognitive rehabilitation therapy (CRT) in individuals with mild traumatic brain injury.
 Laatsch et al. 2004
Glasgow Coma Scale GCS 2025
  • Glasgow Coma Scale Ranges
 NIH 2025
  • Severity of TBI
 NIH 2012

 

Last updated: September 2026

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