Traumatic Brain Injury Common among Homeless People
In a recent study of homeless people in Toronto, Canada’s shelter system it was found that 58 percent of homeless men and 42 percent of homeless women had a history of traumatic brain injury. Even though they were homeless, they each had health insurance. In the study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, of more than 900 homeless in Toronto it was found that health problems included an increased risk of seizures, mental health problems, drug abuse and poor physical health status. Dr. Stephen Hwang, a physician and research scientist at St. Michael's Hospital stated that for many the first instance of traumatic brain injury often occurred at a young age and “suggests that in some cases TBI may be a causal factor that contributes to the onset of homelessness, possibly through cognitive or behavioral dysfunction caused by a TBI.” The implications of these findings should enlighten those providing health care to homeless people that the difficult behaviors they may sometimes face could in fact be a result of a TBI. Further, encouraging the health care providers to ask their patients if they have suffered a TBI and if so to offer neuropsychological screening, referrals to rehabilitation programs and other community support systems, wrote the authors of the study.
