Research has shown that head injuries can affect mortality for up to 13 years after an accident. A recent study showed that 40% of those who had sustained a head injury died within 13 years of the event, which was higher than the rate of those admitted with other injuries (28%) and healthy people (19%).
The study showed that the first year after injury has the highest risk of death but this continued for at least another 12 years. Research showed that deaths among people aged from 15 to 54 years old were more than six times higher.
There are no clear explanations for the higher death rates among the young and middle aged. The head-injured were almost three times as likely to die of circulatory, respiratory, digestive, psychiatric and external causes than their healthy peers. Researchers suggested that life style factors before the injury, such as excessive alcohol intake, living alone or mental health problems have an affect on survival.
Liam Moloney, personal injuries Solicitor, has called on businesses to take this study as a further indication of the importance of preventing such injuries, “It clear that preventing injuries in the first place – through safer systems of work and the use of correct protective equipment would be a particularly way of tackling this problem. Employers should realise the potential long term issues they could leave their workers facing if they do not take steps to ensure worker safety and prevent unnecessary accidents at work”.
