Use of The Ohio State University TBI Identification Method (OSU-TBI) in community settings

Research Objectives: To explore whether the OSU-TBI can be an effective way to screen individuals for lifetime history of moderate to severe TBI in community settings.

Design: This descriptive study tracked the use of the OSU-TBI in screening a large, non-clinical population.

Setting: Community-based outreach via health fairs, community-based organizations, flyers and referrals.

Participants: Participants (N=87) screened using the OSU-TBI between 2018 and 2022 were primarily female (54%), Hispanic (40.0%), single never married (53.8%), and spoke English (74.9%).

Interventions: Screening individuals for TBI with the OSU-TBI.

Main Outcome Measures: OSU-TBI-ID screening, number of TBIs, severity of TBI.

Results: Results of screening demonstrate that just over 20% of individuals experienced multiple, repeated impacts to their heads. On average, individuals screened had 1 (46.0%) or 2 (20.7%) lifetime TBIs, with a smaller percent having experienced 3 or more. Approximately 25% of screened individuals experienced mild, moderate or severe TBIs across their lifetime where few had LOC of >30min. Most individuals screened with the OSU-TBI had a medically confirmed TBI at the time of our screening, however, a sizeable portion (25.6%) had non-medically confirmed TBIs, where 14.3% experienced a moderate TBI.

Conclusions: The OSU-TBI is a useful tool for regular TBI screening with potential to provide access to TBI care in community settings. A small, yet powerful number of individuals had non-medically confirmed, moderate TBIs. This may be explained by some individuals having experienced their TBI(s) many years prior without access their medical records. Further research is needed to understand the long-term impact of TBI on those with the injury and their loved one and access to TBI knowledge and care.

Author(s) Disclosures: The authors have no conflicts of interest nor biases related to this work. This work was supported by grants from NIDILRR and partially funded by Administration for Community Living (90 DP 0047, Rusk Rehabilitation TBI Model System at NYU Langone Health , T. Bushnik & B. Im, PIs). However, these contents do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the TBI Model Systems Centers or NIDILRR.