Sex-specific human, agent, and environment-related interactions in traumatic brain injury: Utility of the Haddon matrix.

Wednesday, November 9, 2022

3:35 PM – 3:51 PM

Presenter(s)

Michael Escobar, PhD

Professor
Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Non-presenting author(s)

Tatyana Mollayeva, PhD, MD

Scientist
KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute- University Health Network
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Slides

Non-presenting Author(s)

Andrew Tran, MSc

Medical Student
KITE Research Institute
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Vincy Chan, PhD

Assistant Scientist
University Health Network
Toronto, United States
Angela Colantonio, PhD, OT. Reg. (Ont.)

Professor, Rehabilitation Sciences Institute
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a significant public health concern. To identify targets for prevention, it is imperative to understand the complex interplay of human, agent, and environment-related factors that manifest in injury. This study explored these factors and their relationships using data from the health records of over 200,000 people with TBI, paying particular attention to sex differences. We found that host health status at the time of injury was associated with injury severity and external cause of injury, and this relationship varied between the sexes. Our results support the need to consider the differences between male and female patients at the time of the injury event to develop responsive primary prevention and to more effectively manage the effects of TBI in those already injured.

Learning Objectives:

Recognize that the interplay of the Host, the Agent, and the Environment implicated in traumatic brain injury events is difficult to account for in hypothesis-driven research
observe that data-driven approaches to the analysis of injury data may enable understanding of traumatic brain injury events in novel ways
Understand the differences uncovered between the sexes in the patterns of the Host, Agent, and Environment and consider how accounting for sex differences can promote more responsive prevention and care
learn the methodology steps in data-driven research of traumatic brain injury events