Health Care Costs 1 Year After Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

Objectives: This study sought to estimate total health care costs for mild, moderate, and severe pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to compare individual- and population-level costs across levels of TBI severity.

Methods: Using 2007 to 2010 MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters data, we estimated total quarterly health care costs 1 year after TBI among enrollees (aged < 18 years). We compared costs across levels of TBI severity using generalized linear models.

Results: Mild TBI accounted for 96.6% of the 319 103 enrollees with TBI; moderate and severe TBI accounted for 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively. Adjusted individual health care costs for moderate and severe TBI were significantly higher than mild TBI in the year after injury (P < .01). At the population level, moderate and severe TBI costs were 88% and 75% less than mild TBI, respectively.

Conclusions: Individually, moderate and severe TBI initially generated costs that were markedly higher than those of mild TBI. At the population level, costs following mild TBI far exceeded those of more severe cases, a result of the extremely high population burden of mild TBI.

Figures

FIGURE 1—

Unadjusted monthly total health care costs for patients diagnosed with traumatic brain injury: Sample of Patients, United States, January 1, 2007–December 31, 2010. Note. Line graph shows mean costs for pediatric patients with mild, moderate, and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) for 6 months before and 12 months after injury. The sample size was n = 319 103.

FIGURE 2—

All-cause health care costs for the 12 months after pediatric traumatic brain injury across levels of severity by (a) mean patient-level costs, (b) median patient-level costs, and (c) population-level costs: Sample of Patients, United States, January 1, 2007–December 31, 2010. Note. TBI = traumatic brain injury. The sample size was n = 319 103.