< Back to front page Text size – +

Head trauma among the homeless

Print | Comments () Posted by Chelsea Conaboy May 11, 2011 03:09 PM

E-mail

By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff

We have written a lot here about the work of Boston researchers analyzing the brains of NFL players for signs of a degenerative disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Last week, a Boston University center confirmed a case in retired safety Dave Duerson, who suffered a loss of memory and impulse control in recent years and killed himself in February. His case was unique because he suspected the disease, caused by repeated head trauma.

Writer and internist Dr. Jan Gurley, who trained at Harvard Medical School and works in San Francisco, says the problem is common among the homeless, too. Assaults on the streets are a daily occurrence, she said.

She cites a study from Toronto in which 53 percent of homeless men and women surveyed at shelters in 2004 and 2005 were found to have suffered significant blows to the head. Twenty percent reported having five or more episodes of serious head trauma, and most said the first came before they were homeless.

Gurley writes on her blog:

What's more, a study like this may actually have under-represented the degree of injury and impairment associated with head trauma among the homeless, since only those people competent enough to seek services at a soup kitchen or shelter were surveyed.

With so much at stake -- the loss of human potential, the damage to our society, the costs of care for these kinds of impairments -- you might think that society would take very seriously the prevention of head trauma among the homeless. There is, however, a sense that people on the streets may have brought it on themselves.

Gurley said public opinion about trauma in the NFL has evolved from disbelief -- and a sense that the players chose their career and deserved what they got -- to a call for action. The same change must occur in thinking about the effects on the homeless, she writes. "For them as well, and for society, the cost of doing nothing is extraordinarily high."

E-mail

« Back to front page

About white coat notes

White Coat Notes covers the latest from the health care industry, hospitals, doctors offices, labs, insurers, and the corridors of government. Chelsea Conaboy previously covered health care for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Write her at cconaboy@boston.com. Follow her on Twitter: @cconaboy.

Daily Dose | More Health&Wellness

health answers

Long-term health consequences to being born prematurely? It's estimated that each year nearly 500,000 babies in the United States are born prematurely, or before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Submit question | More answers