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Objective: To describe the frequency of hospitalisation and in-hospital death following moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Australia, both overall and by patient demographic characteristics and the nature and severity of the injury., Design, Setting: Cross-sectional study; analysis of Australia New Zealand Trauma Registry data., Participants: People with moderate to severe TBI (Abbreviated Injury Score [head] greater than 2) who were admitted to or died in one of the twenty-three major Australian trauma services that contributed data to the ATR throughout the study period, 1 July 2015 - 30 June 2020., Major Outcome Measures: Primary outcome: number of hospitalisations with moderate to severe TBI; secondary outcome: number of deaths in hospital following moderate to severe TBI., Results: During 2015-20, 16 350 people were hospitalised with moderate to severe TBI (mean, 3270 per year), of whom 2437 died in hospital (14.9%; mean, 487 per year). The mean age at admission was 50.5 years (standard deviation [SD], 26.1 years), and 11 644 patients were male (71.2%); the mean age of people who died in hospital was 60.4 years (SD, 25.2 years), and 1686 deaths were of male patients (69.2%). The overall number of hospitalisations did not change during 2015-20 (per year: incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.00; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99-1.02) and death (IRR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.97-1.03)., Conclusion: Injury prevention and trauma care interventions for people with moderate to severe TBI in Australia reduced neither the incidence of the condition nor the associated in-hospital mortality during 2015-20. More effective care strategies are required to reduce the burden of TBI, particularly among younger men., (© 2023 The Authors. Medical Journal of Australia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of AMPCo Pty Ltd.)

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the largest contributor to death and disability in people who have experienced physical trauma. There are no national data on outcomes for people with moderate to severe TBI in Australia., Objectives: To determine the incidence and key determinants of outcomes for patients with moderate to severe TBI, both for Australia and for selected population subgroups, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians., Methods and Analysis: The Australian Traumatic Brain Injury National Data (ATBIND) project will analyse Australia New Zealand Trauma Registry (ATR) data and National Coronial Information Service (NCIS) deaths data. The ATR documents the demographic characteristics, injury event description and severity, processes of care, and outcomes for people with major injury, including TBI, assessed and managed at the 27 major trauma services in Australia. We will include data for people with moderate to severe TBI (Abbreviated Injury Scale [AIS] (head) score higher than 2) who had Injury Severity Scores [ISS] higher than 12 or who died in hospital. People will also be included if they died before reaching a major trauma service and the coronial report details were consistent with moderate to severe TBI. The primary research outcome will be survival to discharge. Secondary outcomes will be hospital discharge destination, hospital length of stay, ventilator-free days, and health service cost., Ethics Approval: The Alfred Ethics Committee approved ATR data extraction (project reference number 670/21). Further ethics approval has been sought from the NCIS and multiple Aboriginal health research ethics committees. The ATBIND project will conform with Indigenous data sovereignty principles., Dissemination of Results: Our findings will be disseminated by project partners with the aim of informing improvements in equitable system-level care for all people in Australia with moderate to severe TBI., Study Registration: Not applicable., (© 2022 The Authors. Medical Journal of Australia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of AMPCo Pty Ltd.)