Article

A study published in 2000 on the acute clinical management of mild
traumatic brain injuries in Sweden showed that these patients were routinely
admitted to hospital for observation. This study aims to compare current clinical
management of mild traumatic brain injury with clinical practice a decade ago.
DESIGN: Questionnaire to senior residents in all emergency departments in Sweden
and data from registers covering all in-hospital care in Sweden. RESULTS: The
response rate to the questionnaire was 100%. In Sweden, 71 emergency departments
treat patients with mild traumatic brain injuries. An estimated mean of 58% of
patients with mild traumatic brain injuries receive computerized tomography
scanning, which represents a 3-fold increase compared with 2000. In 2010, Swedish
hospitals admitted 8821 patients for mild traumatic brain injuries (94 per
100,000 inhabitants). This figure is approximately half that of 1996, when 16,877
patients were treated as inpatients for mild traumatic brain injuries (191 per
100,000 inhabitants). However, admission rates continue to vary widely among
departments. The mean hospital stay 2010 was 1.21 days, compared with 1.6 days in
1996. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence of a change in clinical practice
in the acute management of mild traumatic brain injuries in Sweden. Acute
management is increasingly based on computed tomography, and in-hospital
observation is used less frequently as a strategy for these patients.

Langue : ANGLAIS