Sonia Singh, United Kingdom, Health Economics
The Economics of Pediatric Head Injury
Traumatic Brain injury (TBI) is projected to be the third largest cause of global disease burden by 2020; with an estimated 10 million people affected by TBI annually worldwide. A concussion is the most common form of TBI and is particularly prevalent among children and young adults. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report an annual estimated 1.6-3.8 million sports related TBI, with a cost of $12 billion in the year 2000. I would like to study if the difference in the availability of resources for the management of head injury in children has an impact on time to recovery in Australia when compared with the United Kingdom …show more content…
The Take CARe Study (Concussion Assessment and Recovery Research) by the Murdoch Children?s Research Institute, Royal Children?s Hospital in Melbourne is a pilot study currently enrolling pediatric patients with a history of concussion. This study is an innovative joint clinical and a research project to improve the care of children who sustain a concussion and to identify predictors of delayed recovery following concussion. Information regarding cost of treatment, time off work and quality of life questionnaires are being collected. Economic modeling builds factors that include direct costs such as hospital visits, tests and medication as well as societal costs to the parents such as lost wages and transportation. This model can be translated to evaluate different health care systems globally, to develop unique cost-effective …show more content…
proposal in health economics will look at the long-term impact of sports related pediatric concussion, with a focus on return to learn. In the process, develop health care policy for pediatric concussion driven from an efficient health care delivery model balancing cost and utility. The PREDICT (Pediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative) network provides a research platform for achieving multicentre acute care pediatric research in Australia and New Zealand. PREDICT was recently awarded a Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Centre for Research Excellence (PEM CRE) grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. The PEM CRE is interested in supporting my Ph.D. study, to build multicentre acute care research in pediatric concussion across Australia and New