Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury (SCI) constitute a considerable portion of the global injury burden and are caused primarily by falls and road injuries, according to data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) Study 2016. Researchers measured the global, regional, and national burden of TBI and SCI by age and sex, as well as the incidence and prevalence of all causes of injury requiring medical care in inpatient and outpatient records, literature studies, and survey data. They found:

• In 2016, there were 27.08 million new cases of TBI and 0.93 million new cases of SCI, with age-standardized incidence rates of 369 per 100,000 persons for TBI and 13 per 100,000 for SCI.
• In 2016, the number of prevalent cases of TBI was 55.50 million and of SCI was 27.04 million.
• TBI caused 8.1 million years of life lived with disability (YLDs) and SCI caused 9.5 million YLDs in 2016, corresponding to age-standardized rates of 111 per 100,000 for TBI and 130 per 100,000 for SCI.