Over the last 20 years, there have been significant public health advancements that address the prevention of concussions. These include the development of protective headgear and the education of risk factor modifications. The high-profile attention to concussions ranging from professional sports and military personnel to youth sports is pervasive in modern culture. And yet only a small portion of the public recognizes that traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. The National Academy of Sciences suggests that TBI poses a burden of death and disability that is second only to that of cancer [2]. For injured persons and their loves ones, the physical and emotional toll from permanent disability is profound and impossible to quantify.

These disabilities, arising from cognitive, emotional, sensory, and motor impairments, often permanently alter a person’s vocational aspirations and have profound effects on the physical, social, psychological, and spiritual aspects of a person’s life. Not only is the quality of the patient’s life diminished, but family life also becomes pressured as they try to cope with a ’new normal’ that consists of frequent hospital visits, medical bills, and a questionable future with the possibility of death always lingering in their minds.

As a result, funding directed at therapeutic research on TBI’s is not commensurate with the magnitude of the problem felt by humanity. According to the CDC, one in four people have reported a lifetime history of experiencing at least one TBI. This number increases to half of all military personnel. It is a life of uncertainty, confusion, isolation, and distress which no one should have to endure. When viewed from a statistical lens, the impacts on the lives of those suffering a TBI are tragic:

• 53% become homeless [5]
• 60% become incarcerated [1]
• 50% develop a substance abuse disorder [6]
• 50% become jobless for 6 months following injury [3]
• Up to 20% will report increased suicidal ideations after 1 year following injury [7]

In 2012, there were 2,123,120 traumatic brain injury emergency room hospitalizations recorded, which resulted in estimated costs totaling $758 billion, outpacing the United States Federal Defense Budget of $676 billion in that year [4]. 

Additionally, it is increasingly evident that a multitude of pathologies follow TBI with symptoms that overlap with other neurological conditions. These conditions remain without a cure, and include CTE, dementia, Alzheimer’s, and stroke. Given that TBI’s are often implicated as the source for so many of these other potentially debilitating mental conditions, we believe that investing in TBI treatments stands to benefit those suffering from multiple neurological diseases.

TBI funding was not even on the National Institute of Health’s top 150 most funded disease categories in 2021, while Alzheimer’s, stroke and dementia were invested in heavily [4]. Because TBI research receives very little private funding, the government has a moral, economic, and vested interest to serve its citizenry with increased funding for TBI research. This amount could be raised by increasing the NIH budget allotment to TBI from $170 million to $450 million, or roughly a 1.8% increase in the NIH budget for this pivotal project to develop new therapeutic breakthroughs.

Spending for TBI treatments is both in the interest of human health but also in the interest of economic benefit and social welfare. By addressing the cause of so many related debilitating conditions that lead to productivity loss and require vast sums of public spending to support at present, the cost savings for taxpayers would be evident in perpetuity with even minor successes in this area of research. Through the combined efforts of the scientific community, pharmaceutical companies, and government agencies, we can bring hope to patients and their families and improve the quality of life for millions of people.

Although the impacts from this petition may take years to effect meaningful change, you can still make a lasting impression on those impacted by this disease by donating to The Brain Injury Research Foundation @ TheBIRF.org

References:

1. Incarceration and Homelessness: Breaking the Cycle. (n.d.). https://cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatch/12 2015/incarceration_and_homelessness.asp
2. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2022, February 1). Traumatic Brain Injury: A
Roadmap for Accelerating Progress. The National Academies Press. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25394/traumatic-brain-injury-a-roadmap-for-accelerating-progress
3. Potential Effects of a Moderate or Severe TBI | Concussion | Traumatic Brain Injury | CDC Injury Center. (n.d.). https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/moderate-severe/potential-effects.html
4. RePORT. (n.d.). https://report.nih.gov/funding/categorical-spending
5. Schmoe, J. (2020, January 20). Half of all homeless people may have had traumatic brain injury. The Functional
Neurology Center. https://thefnc.com/research/half-of-all-homeless-people-may-have-had-traumatic-brain-injury/
6. Substance Abuse and Traumatic Brain Injury. (2018, August 15). BrainLine. https://www.brainline.org/article/substance-abuse-and-traumatic-brain-injury 7.suicidalideationaftertbi.(n.d.).Up-to-date.https://www.uptodate.com/contents/suicidal-ideation-and-behavior in-adu