Prognosis after traumatic brain injury

This thesis describes studies on prognosis after severe or moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI). In Chapter 1, the clinical problem of TBI is discussed. TBI is generally defined as an injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, such as a traffic accident, a fall or a gunshot. TBI is an important public health care problem in the western world. It is one of the most common causes of death in young adults and it can affect people’s lives enormously. The focus of this thesis is on developing and validating prognostic models: statistical models that combine individual patient characteristics to predict the probability of a particular outcome or disease state. The objectives of this thesis were: (1) to study methodological developments in prognostic modeling in TBI; (2) to develop and validate prognostic models that predict long- term outcome for patients with severe or moderate TBI an (3) to predict the need of specialized intensive care to aid a more efficient triage of patients.

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