Gender Differences in Discharge Destination Among Older Adults Following Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability, and the highest in-patient admission rates are among older adults. We identified that gender independently influences discharge destination following TBI in older adults. In this cross-sectional study, we examined discharge destinations of patients admitted to acute care over a 4-year period, as captured by the Ontario Trauma Registry (n = 3,480). Following TBI, women were significantly more likely than men to be sent to long term care facilities rather than home settings (p < .05), controlling for age, injury severity, mechanism of injury, and comorbidities.

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by a grant from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute-UHN, and by support from the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute Foundation. Additional funding was obtained from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (200603MOP). Stephanie B. Brown received funding from the Carol Mitchell and Richard Venn Graduate Student Fellowship in Women's Health. We thank Lee Vernich for preliminary data analysis and Sandra Sokoloff for assistance with manuscript preparation.