Summary

This report critically reviews:

  • definitions of acquired brain injury (ABI);
  • existing estimates of incidence of ABI and prevalence of disability attributable to ABI in Australia and overseas; and
  • data sources and approaches to estimating incidence and prevalence.

Newly derived estimates of rates of hospitalisation associated with ABI (treated as indicative of incidence rates) and the prevalence of disability attributable to ABI in Australia are also presented. ‘Incidence’ is the number of new cases of a condition diagnosed or reported during a specified time period (usually one year). ‘Prevalence’ is the total number of cases of a condition within a population at a given point in time. This report is the third in a series looking at the definition and prevalence of different disability groups in Australia.