Traumatic brain injury

Sudden illness and injury. Also called: TBI, Head injury.

How common is Traumatic brain injury in the US?

Brain injury emergency visits, hospital stays, and deaths, added together: 2.8 million (Events in one year, not people; United States, 2013). Source: MMWR Surveillance Summaries (CDC), 2017. Label: VERIFIED.

• 2.8 million Brain injury emergency visits, hospital stays, and deaths, added together. Out of: Events in one year, not people. Where: United States. When: 2013. Counts only injuries seen in an emergency department, admitted, or recorded as a death. Label: VERIFIED.

  In 2013, a total of approximately 2.8 million TBI-related ED visits, hospitalizations, and deaths (TBI-EDHDs) occurred in the United States.

  Source: Traumatic Brain Injury-Related Emergency Department Visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths - United States, 2007 and 2013. MMWR Surveillance Summaries (CDC), 2017. PubMed 28301451. DOI 10.15585/mmwr.ss6609a1.

Each figure measures something different. Do not compare them with each other or with other conditions.

Medical codes

• ICD-10-CM FY2026: S06.9X0A Unspecified intracranial injury without loss of consciousness, initial encounter (narrower). Other S06 codes also apply. Seventh-character extensions mark the encounter.

Research activity

As of 2026-09-24: 2,639 registered studies on ClinicalTrials.gov (search Traumatic Brain Injury) and 19,972 PubMed records, 2021 to 2025. A count of records is not how common or serious the condition is.

Population information, not medical advice. Methodology · Known limitations