Take Care Of Your Brain! Study Links Traumatic Brain Injury To Risk Of Jail Time

The brain plays a key role in the everyday life. Thus, people should take care of it. However, sometimes people cannot avoid or other matters that cause traumatic brain injury. Recently, a new Canadian research found that traumatic brain injury on young adult is linked to higher chances of ending up in jail.

The study lead author, Dr. Flora Mathenson from the Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, said that, "These findings contribute to emerging research suggesting traumatic brain injury is an important risk factor for involvement with the criminal justice system."

Dr. Mathenson added that, "This may be just the tip of the iceberg as our study focused only on people with more serious [traumatic brain injury]. We also did not include people who may have served time in provincial, rather than federal jails."

In the study that was published in the journal CMAJ Open, Matheson and her team studied the data taken from nearly 1.4 million Canadians, aged 18 to 28 from 1997 to 2011. The researchers said that they chose this age group as it as an increased risk of severe brain injury and involvement in the criminal justice system, according to Health Day.

The usual case of the brain injury is a violent blow or a jolt to the head or the less usual is an object penetrating the skull. A concussion, on the other hand, is often said to be a mild traumatic brain injury.

As follows, during the research period, the experts have found that 0.5 percent of those with a history of traumatic brain injury ended up in federal prison. It was more than twice the rate of the 0.2 percent of those with no history of traumatic brain injury.

However, the researchers indicated that the overall risk of jail for someone with a history of severe brain injury was low, at less than five in 1,000. Also, the results show only an association not the relationship of cause and effect.

The researchers suggested that knowing this connection can help health care providers to better identify people at risk of prison and give them better care within the prison system. Thus, Dr. Matheson said that the study highlights the fact that many people in prison may have a potentially serious health issue, according to U.S. News.