Epidemiology of Traumatic Brain Injury in Medicare Beneficiaries over the Last Decade: A Retrospective Observational Study.

Overview

1. Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital Harvard Medical School Boston Massachusetts USA
2. Center for Value Based Healthcare and Sciences Massachusetts General Hospital Boston Massachusetts USA
3. Department of Health Care Policy Harvard Medical School Boston Massachusetts USA
4. Mongan Institute for Health Policy Massachusetts General Hospital Boston Massachusetts USA
5. Department of Biostatistics Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health Boston Massachusetts USA

Abstract

Background and Aims: Older adults have higher rates of traumatic brain injuries (TBI) than other age groups, accounting for most TBI‐related hospitalizations and mortality. However, there is no up‐to‐date data on annual trends and regional differences in older Medicare beneficiaries. Here we estimate the incidence of TBI‐related hospitalizations and identify annual trends and regional differences.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort analysis of fee‐for‐service Medicare claims data from 2010 to 2022. The study population consisted of beneficiaries with at least 1 year of continuous coverage including parts A and B. ICD codes were used to identify TBI‐related hospitalizations. We estimated generalized linear mixed Poisson regression models of the aggregated TBI counts and included age group, sex, race/ethnicity, a sex by race/ethnicity interaction, period, and a random state effect as covariates. Geographic variability was summarized by the state random effects.

Results: 704,409 total observations met eligibility with 684,869 unique beneficiaries. Majority of beneficiaries were in the age ranges of 81–85 (22%) and 86–90 (22%), and 56% (n = 394,024) were female. Majority of beneficiaries were White (n = 610,688, 87%) and 5% (n = 31,723) were Hispanic. Incidence of TBI hospitalizations increased with age and were higher in females, particularly in the oldest age groups of 86–90 (7.15 [CI 7.06–7.25] in females vs. 5.49 [CI 5.41–5.56] in males) and > 91 (8.39 [CI 8.27–8.51] in females vs. 6.97 [CI 6.8–7.07] in males). Higher incidence of TBI hospitalizations were seen in the South, Northeast and West, with lower rates in the Midwest.

Conclusion: We demonstrate that over the years TBI‐related hospitalizations are consistently higher in the oldest‐old adults, and in females. There is regional variation with highest TBI‐related hospitalizations in the Northeast and South. Future studies aimed at identifying interactions between clinical and demographic factors are indicated to develop targeted public health interventions at mitigating TBI in older adults.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.

Tracing map

A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none, so it has no map.

Data

Datasets cited

• doi:10.7910/dvn/wfdpnh — at the source; found in the references

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for this study. Data are available from https://www.cms.gov/data-research/cms-data/data-available-researchers with the permission of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 28 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 7 authors, 5 keywords, 1 funder, 36 references.

Cite

This paper

Moura, L. M., Zaborski, L., Wojciechowski, A. M., Hsu, J., Grabowski, D. C., Normand, S. T., & Zafar, S. F. (2026). Epidemiology of Traumatic Brain Injury in Medicare Beneficiaries over the Last Decade: A Retrospective Observational Study. Health science reports, 9(5), e72247. https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.72247

Similar papers

The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.

[1] doi:10.1503/cmaj.251721 [code]

Differences in admission to trauma centres by sex among adults with traumatic brain injury: a population-based cohort study.

Journal: CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne

In common: traumatic brain injury, clinical / translational, 3 references

[2] doi:10.1016/j.lanepe.2026.101693

Absolute risk of acquired brain injury and rehabilitation needs in Denmark, 2014-2023: a population-based prospective cohort study.

Journal: The Lancet regional health. Europe

In common: traumatic brain injury, clinical / translational, 2 references

[3] doi:10.1038/s41598-026-57082-4

Glucose-to-potassium ratio has a non-linear J-shaped association with acute kidney injury risk in traumatic brain injury.

Journal: Scientific reports

In common: traumatic brain injury, clinical / translational, 1 reference

[4] doi:10.1038/s41598-026-47942-4 [code]

CT-based radiomic markers to predict late-onset seizures after traumatic brain injury.

Journal: Scientific reports

In common: traumatic brain injury, clinical / translational, 1 reference

[5] doi:10.1186/s13054-026-06030-9

Autoregulation-guided intracranial pressure and cerebral perfusion pressure targets in different subtypes and characteristics of traumatic brain injury.

Journal: Critical care (London, England)

In common: traumatic brain injury, clinical / translational, 1 reference

[6] doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0345651 [code]

Non-concussive head impacts sustained during American football correlate with changes in gut microbiome diversity and composition.

Journal: PloS one

In common: traumatic brain injury, clinical / translational, 1 reference

[7] doi:10.3389/fncel.2026.1894226

Boldine treatment prevents chronic cognitive impairment and exaggerated fear learning in rats exposed to repetitive low-level blast injury.

Journal: Frontiers in cellular neuroscience

In common: traumatic brain injury, 1 reference

[8] doi:10.3389/fneur.2026.1849021

Early pharmacologic venous thromboembolism prophylaxis and in-hospital mortality in ICU patients with intracerebral hemorrhage: a landmark, propensity-weighted cohort study.

Journal: Frontiers in neurology

In common: clinical / translational, 1 reference

[9] doi:10.3390/life16081245

Growth Hormone-Insulin-like Growth Factor Axis and GDF-15 in Critical Illness: Implications for Survival Stratification.

Journal: Life (Basel, Switzerland)

In common: clinical / translational, 1 reference

[10] doi:10.3390/jcm15176499 [code]

Perioperative Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 and Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 Profiles in Acute and Chronic Subdural Hematomas.

Journal: Journal of clinical medicine

In common: traumatic brain injury, clinical / translational

Contribute

The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.

Request its removal

To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).

Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.

Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.

Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.