THE TRAUMATIC COMA DATA-BANK - DESIGN, METHODS, AND BASE-LINE CHARACTERISTICS

The Traumatic Coma Data Bank is a collaborative project to prospectively collect data on the clinical course and outcome of severely head-injured patients. The objectives were to further define the natural history of traumatic head injury, to identify prognostic factors, and to provide planning data for future studies. A brief historical development and a description of the organizational structure and methods are given. The characteristics of the cohort at baseline for the 1030 patients enrolled between January, 1984, and September, 1987, are presented, including a summary of the patients' demographic profile, mechanisms of injury, and intracranial diagnoses. The utility and limitations of these data are discussed.