Table 3.
TBI-related signs and symptoms and imaging findings among a random sample of medical records assigned traumatic intracranial injury ICD-10-CM codes*, by study site
| Study sites | One shock trauma, one ED in referral centres (Maryland) n=456 |
Two EDs in university system (Kentucky) n=385 |
EDs in level I, II, III trauma hospitals (Colorado) n=376‡ |
EDs in all acute care hospitals (Massachusetts) n=388 |
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| Known or suspected signs and/or symptoms | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % | Count | % |
| In group 1 | ||||||||
| Dazed/foggy/confused | 163 | 35.7 | 115 | 29.9 | 110 | 29.3 | 118 | 30.4 |
| Memory problems | 154 | 33.8 | 81 | 21.0 | 68 | 18.1 | 46 | 11.9 |
| Loss of consciousness | 308 | 67.5 | 168 | 43.6 | 145 | 38.6 | 99 | 25.5 |
| Any group 1 sign/symptom | 361 | 79.2 | 230 | 59.7 | 214 | 56.9 | 202 | 52.1 |
| No group 1 signs/symptoms | 88 | 19.3 | 155 | 40.3 | 162 | 43.1 | 186 | 47.9 |
| Total | 449 | 98.5 | 385 | 100.0 | 376 | 100.0 | 388 | 100.0 |
| In group 2 | ||||||||
| Nausea or vomiting | 83 | 18.2 | 94 | 24.4 | 145 | 38.6 | 171 | 44.4 |
| Headache/pressure in head | 202 | 44.3 | 238 | 61.8 | 250 | 66.5 | 319 | 82.2 |
| Dizziness/poor balance | 68 | 14.9 | 69 | 17.9 | 113 | 30.1 | 127 | 32.7 |
| Change in vision | 27 | 5.9 | 34 | 8.8 | 65 | 17.3 | 69 | 17.7 |
| Poor concentration | 19 | 4.2 | † | † | 17 | 4.5 | † | † |
| Sensitivity to noise/light | † | † | 15 | 3.9 | 31 | 8.2 | 37 | 9.6 |
| Irritable/change in mood | 52 | 11.4 | † | † | 21 | 5.6 | † | † |
| Drowsiness/change in sleep | 57 | 12.5 | 34 | 8.8 | 40 | 10.6 | 37 | 9.6 |
| Speech problems | 33 | 7.2 | 11 | 2.9 | 17 | 4.5 | 15 | 3.9 |
| Hearing problems | † | † | † | † | 11 | 2.9 | † | † |
| Weakness/numbness | 27 | 5.9 | † | † | 34 | 9.0 | 31 | 8.1 |
| Imaging of the head | ||||||||
| Imaging performed | 404 | 88.6 | 274 | 71.2 | 231 | 61.4 | 237 | 61.1 |
| Positive imaging findings | 153 | 33.6 | 75 | 19.5 | 16 | 4.3 | 14 | 5.5 |
The bold values indicate that those two characteristics were exclusive (meaning a patient could not have both) and their total counts or percentages were shown in the "total" row below them.
*Intracranial injury ICD-10-CM codes began with ‘S06’ and ‘A’ in seventh character of the code or missing.
†Suppressed because the count was less than 11.
‡Nine of the 385 sampled medical records in Colorado indicated that the patient was not a state resident, was not discharged home, did not have an injury event or was admitted as an inpatient.
ED, emergency department; ICD-10-CM, International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification; TBI, traumatic brain injury.