In the United States, trauma is the leading cause of death in individuals under 45 years of age, and brain injury results in more trauma deaths than do injuries to any other body region. One in 12 deaths in the United States results from injury, with over 150,000 injury-related deaths in 1994. For every 24 persons who seek medical treatment for a brain injury, about 6 persons are admitted to a hospital and one individual dies from their brain injury. Brain injury incidence is highest in young people and the elderly.
Most reports show that brain injury occurs twice as often among males compared with females.
Motor vehicle crashes account for the major proportion of head and brain injuries and involve a disproportionately large number of young persons. Motorcycle-related deaths occur at a rate that is 15 times greater than the rate for occupants of passenger cars. Over half of all motorcycle crash-related deaths involve a head injury. Each year about 169,000 persons sustain emergency room-treated brain injuries resulting from bicycle incidents. Overall, about half of persons seen in hospitals with brain injury have mild trauma.