Not Just Sport And Car Crashes: Debunking 5 Myths About Traumatic Brain Injury In NZ

Kelly
Jones, Auckland
University of Technology

Touching the
lives of an average 110 people each day in Aotearoa, traumatic
brain injury (TBI) is much more common than any of us
would like it to be.

Yet it is often misunderstood,
underestimated and too easily dismissed as someone else’s
problem.

We know these injuries – sustained when
the brain is damaged by a force such as a fall or a knock
– can
cause effects ranging from mild, short-term symptoms to
serious, long-term disability.

But there is still
much to learn about who is being injured, where it happens
and what is causing it.

To answer these questions,
we examined traumatic brain injury cases recorded in the
Waikato population in 2021–22, then compared the results
with a similar study we ran a decade earlier.

Our
newly
published findings help to debunk some common and
enduring myths about a health risk that is neither
inevitable nor beyond our control.

Myth #1: Most
traumatic brain injuries are severe

While these
injuries can often be devastating for those affected, our
study found that most cases (93%) were mild in severity,
such as concussion.

At
the same time, the number of traumatic brain injuries adds
up to a far bigger problem than many realise. We found that
for every 100,000 people, 852 experienced a traumatic brain
injury – meaning at least 40,000 New Zealanders are
affected each year.

Myth #2: It’s a sports and
car crash problem

We often associate traumatic
brain injury with head blows sustained in car crashes, on
the sports field or during fights or assaults. While media
coverage of concussion in sport has done much to raise
awareness of the issue and its impacts, the more ordinary
reality is that most cases are caused by falls.

Data
from both our studies showed this leading cause – whether
from someone tripping or falling off something – accounted
for nearly half of all traumatic brain injuries, with a
similar proportion of all cases occurring in the
home.

Myth #3: Only young people are
vulnerable

Young people are commonly considered
most vulnerable to traumatic brain injury; our data did
indeed show children aged 0–4 among the groups more likely
to experience it.

Yet our most recent study found
the largest share of these injuries occurred in adults aged
65 and over, mostly due to falls (39%). This is a worrying
trend, especially given New Zealand’s population is
on track to include around one million people aged 65
and over by 2029.

Myth #4: Risk looks the same for
everyone

We also found higher rates among males
and Māori.
Among Māori in particular, this elevated risk likely
reflects persistent disadvantages such as lower incomes,
poorer housing, barriers to education and healthcare and
ongoing impacts of colonisation.

Some
patterns appear to reflect the period in which the study was
conducted. During the COVID-19
pandemic, we observed more traumatic brain injuries
among females aged 15–64 due to assault.

This
increase coincides with pandemic-related pressures on jobs,
mental health, and family and social life, and aligns with
wider
evidence of increased violence against women during that
period. Brain injury linked to intimate partner violence
remains an
important area of concern in New Zealand.

We
also recorded fewer injuries among children (aged 0–15)
and people living in rural areas. But this may say less
about true risk and more about COVID-19 restrictions,
difficulties accessing healthcare and evidence
that some parents avoided doctors and hospitals because
of fears about infection.

Myth #5: Traumatic brain
injuries are unavoidable

Much as we might like to
think of brain injuries as an unfortunate fact of life, they
are not inevitable. Many are preventable.

Our data
suggest there is still more to be done – especially for
younger and older people and in Māori communities – even
though a wide range of prevention efforts already
exist.

There are government-funded fall prevention
programmes. ACC’s Community Strength
and Balance classes aim to keep older people strong,
steady and safe from falls. Safekids
Aotearoa delivers home safety programmes and free safety
devices to help prevent serious injuries, such as falls, in
young children.

Kaupapa Māori-based (Māori-led)
fall-prevention programmes – such as Taurite Tū, a
strength and balance wellness programme – have been
designed by Māori for Māori aged 50 and over and their
whānau.

Public health messaging also plays an
important role in encouraging people to take responsibility
for keeping themselves and their communities safe – for
instance, through ACC’s “Have
a hmmm” campaign.

Prevention has also
attracted growing interest from the private sector, with
major investment in new technologies designed to lessen the
risk of falls and head injuries, including smart-home
devices and wearable
technology.

But what matters most is careful
evaluation. We need to be confident that these investments
really make a difference and that efforts are focused on
those with the greatest need.

That will require
working with younger and older people, their families and
carers, and Māori communities to design, deliver and assess
prevention efforts.

The author
acknowledges the contributions of study collaborators Nicola
Starkey, Shanthi Ameratunga, Alice Theadom, Braden Te Ao,
Laura Wilkinson-Meyers, Irene Zeng and Valery
Feigin.

Kelly
Jones, Associate Professor of Pediatric Neuropsychology,
Auckland
University of Technology

This
article is republished from The Conversation
under a Creative Commons license. Read the original
article.