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Researchers Shocked By New Statistics On Head Injuries Among People Who Are Homeless
Nature World News ^ | May 16, 2013

Posted on 05/17/2013 10:54:34 AM PDT by Zakeet

Men who are heavy drinkers and homeless for long periods of time have 400 times the number of head injuries as the general population, according to a new study by researchers who said they were shocked by their findings.

These men have 170 times as many severe head injuries as the general population and 300 times as many injuries that cause bleeding in the brain.

The study by Dr. Tomislav Svoboda, a family physician at St. Michael’s Hospital, appears online in Emergency Medicine Journal.

The study also looked at head injuries in the general homeless population and among people who are vulnerably housed, meaning they live in crowded, unsafe or unaffordable housing or are in danger of becoming homeless. Both these groups had about 23 times the number of head injuries as the general population, but rates much lower than the chronically homeless.

Previous studies of head injuries among people who are homeless have been based on interviews. Dr. Svoboda, a researcher in the hospital’s Centre for Research on Inner City Health, said his study is the first based on actual Emergency Department records over five years and the first to compare people who are homeless with the general population based on that data. They looked at all head injuries from slight concussions to brain hemorrhages.

“We were shocked by the number if head injuries,” said Dr. Tomislav. “In medicine, we worry when something occurs two or three times more often in a particular patient group, but to talk about magnitudes of 300 or 400 is unheard of.”

Dr. Svoboda found the length of time between head injuries shortened as the number went up. The mean interval between head injuries was 231 days. That decreased by an average of 11.8 days with each subsequent head injury.

(Excerpt) Read more at natureworldnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: headinjury; healthcare; homeless

I'll bet you Right Wing Nuts didn't know that schizophrenia, alcoholism, drug abuse, seizures, head-banging, psychotropic drugs, and gang fighting could cause brain injury ... but you don't need to worry because ObamaCare will fix all that!

1 posted on 05/17/2013 10:54:34 AM PDT by Zakeet
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To: Zakeet

Women, children, minorities, and homeless hardest hit.


2 posted on 05/17/2013 10:55:16 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Zakeet

So people who are drunk and wander around the streets at night are more prone to head injuries?

Who knew. Wow, I wonder how much we paid for that study?


3 posted on 05/17/2013 10:55:46 AM PDT by mnehring
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To: Zakeet
Great.

This holiday season, I expect that I'll be seeing weepy TV commercials appealing for donations on behalf of 'The Helmetless'.

4 posted on 05/17/2013 10:57:32 AM PDT by The KG9 Kid (Demand Common Sense Nut Control.)
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To: The KG9 Kid

Get drunk....fall down..go boom....who wouldda thought...


5 posted on 05/17/2013 11:00:35 AM PDT by Youngman542012
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To: Zakeet

That’s what the phrase “falling down drunk” means.


6 posted on 05/17/2013 11:01:48 AM PDT by ozzymandus
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To: mnehring

“Who knew. Wow, I wonder how much we paid for that study?”

A whole lot more than I’ll make in a lifetime.


7 posted on 05/17/2013 11:02:48 AM PDT by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like it)
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To: Zakeet

Yeah fine, but what comes first, the head injuries, or the homelessness? I think if they are getting SOOOOOOO much more head injuries than average population we have to figure out where and when and why they are getting them. When does it start? What is the cause of them?


8 posted on 05/17/2013 11:09:04 AM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I can neither confirm or deny that; even if I could, I couldn't - it's classified.)
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To: Zakeet

This is big news.

We have a democrat in the White House and there is an MSM news article about homeless people?

Maybe Sally Sweetlies finally decided she didn’t like being Satan’s favorite play-toy after all?


9 posted on 05/17/2013 11:09:37 AM PDT by null and void (Republicans create the tools of opression, and the democrats gleefully use them!)
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To: Secret Agent Man

Yea but did they play football that is the only reason for getting a head injury.


10 posted on 05/17/2013 11:10:15 AM PDT by edcoil (If you can't change the rules, then ignore them.)
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To: Zakeet

I notice she left out liberal socialism can cause brain injury.


11 posted on 05/17/2013 11:10:24 AM PDT by mardi59 (IMPEACH OBAMA NOW!!!!!)
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To: mnehring
So people who are drunk and wander around the streets at night are more prone to head injuries?

You can put me down for at least two of those.

12 posted on 05/17/2013 11:11:01 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: edcoil

I would think veterans with head trauma would fall in one of these categories too but what I want to know is the nature of these injuries, and what percentage of these injuries are self-inflicted versus accidental/unintended/not self-inflicted.


13 posted on 05/17/2013 11:12:19 AM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I can neither confirm or deny that; even if I could, I couldn't - it's classified.)
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To: Zakeet

I guess I’m gonna be on the hook to buy “Helmets for the Homeless”.


14 posted on 05/17/2013 11:14:11 AM PDT by Spruce
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To: 1rudeboy

I wonder how many of these injuries are caused by “getin nokked up-side da hed”?


15 posted on 05/17/2013 11:46:11 AM PDT by BRK
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

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