Medical costs of mild to moderate traumatic brain injury in children

Objective: To estimate healthcare expenditures of children with mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) outside of acute care settings. Design: Data from the 1997-2000 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey were used to produce estimates of expenditures for a natural sample of 196 children with TBI. Results: Expenditures for TBI-related services in children averaged $77.9 million per year. Average per capita expenditure was $1044, of which $166 was for TBI-related services and $878 was for all other health services. Conclusion: Although total costs of TBI in children are high, the average costs are much lower than those previous reports because youth with minor trauma were not included in prior samples.