The panel issued their consensus statement at the conclusion of a 3-day NIH Consensus Development Conference on Rehabilitation of Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury, which came about as a result of 1996 Congressional legislation directing the NIH to conduct a "national consensus conference on managing traumatic brain injury and related rehabilitation concerns." Panel members spent more than a year reviewing an extensive collection of medical literature related to rehabilitation of persons with TBI, including an evidence-based review of the literature provided by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research. The panel also heard presentations by experts in the field and public testimony from interested organizations, persons who had experienced TBI, and families of people with TBI.
The full NIH Consensus Statement on Rehabilitation of Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury is available by calling 1-888-NIH-CONSENSUS (1-888-644-2667) or by visiting the NIH Consensus Development Program Web site at http://consensus.nih.gov.
The NIH Consensus Development Program was established in 1977 as a form of "science court" to resolve in an unbiased manner controversial topics in medicine. To date, NIH has conducted 108 such conferences addressing a wide range of controversial medical issues important to health care providers, patients, and the general public. An average of six consensus conferences are held each year.
This conference was sponsored by the NIH Office of Medical Applications of Research and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The conference was cosponsored by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Office of Alternative Medicine, and the Office of Research on Women's Health of the National Institutes of Health;, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research; and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
NOTE TO RADIO EDITORS: An audio report of the conference results are available October 28-November 4, 1998 from the NIH Radio News Service by calling 1-800-MED-DIAL (1-800-633-3425) or by visiting http://www.radiospace.com/nihhome.htm on the Web.