Some brain injury facts for World Brain Injury Awareness Week

March 11 to 17, 2013 is World Brain Injury Awareness Week.

What better time to wrap our heads around some brain injury basics?

• 50,000 Canadians sustain brain injuries every year.

•  More people experience a traumatic brain injury each year than are diagnosed with MS, spinal cord injury, HIV/AIDS and breast cancer combined.

• Acquired brain injury is the leading cause of death and disability for people under age 45 in Ontario.

• 50% of all deaths of Canadian children and youth are from brain injuries.

• The direct and indirect costs of traumatic brain injury are estimated at $1 billion each year in Ontario.

•  Automobile accidents account for more than half of all traumatic brain injuries.

• There is a relationship between being homeless and being in prison and having a traumatic brain injury.

Some points to ponder, courtesy of the Hamilton Brain Injury Association and Brain Injury Association of Toronto.