Traumatic Brain Injury Linked to Prolonged Work Disability
March 01, 2026 – Patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) are more likely to collect work disability benefits, with the odds increasing alongside injury severity, than those without such injuries, according to a study published in Neurology.
Researchers, Andrea Klang, MD, a PhD student in rehabilitation medicine at Uppsala University in Sweden, and Elham Rostami, MD, PhD, a specialist in neurosurgery at Uppsala University Hospital, noted that most studies assessing return to work after TBI utilize a simple “yes-or-no” outcome at a single point in time.
“However, recovery after TBI is often dynamic,” Klang and Rostami stated. “We wanted to examine how individuals move in and out of work disability over several years, and how injury severity and pre-injury factors influence that process.”
The population-based, longitudinal study included 98,256 patients with TBI matched against 981,191 patients without TBI from nationwide registers in Sweden between 2005 and 2016. The study population consisted of 42.12% women with a median age of 39 years.
TBI was categorized by severity, including 91,505 patients (93%; 42.87% women; median age, 38 years) with a specialized health care visit or hospitalization of 2 days or fewer with no neurosurgery; 6,091 patients (6%; 42.87% women; median age, 38 years) with hospitalization of 3 or more days but no neurosurgery; and 660 patients.
Researchers identified risk factors including older age, female sex, blue collar work, and psychiatric and substance apply disorders. The number of days with work disability ranged from 526 with less severe injury to 1,201 with more severe injury.
The findings highlight the need to address impairment related to TBI, as well as socioeconomic factors and comorbidities, during long-term, individualized rehabilitation.
Reference: Klang A, et al. Neurology. 2026; doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000214674.
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