10 Jul 2010

Riskier behaviour explains brain injury ratio

5:57 am on 10 July 2010

A manager with listed company Abano Healthcare says the rate of brain injury among Maori is high because many young Maori are more likely to engage in risky behaviour.

The company this week opened a new residential rehabilitation facility in Hamilton, Pumau o Te Aroha.

Manager Judy Green-Philpott says the most common cause of brain injury is falls, followed by motor acccidents, drug and alcohol abuse, and daredevil feats.

She told Waatea News the fact that about one in two people hospitalised with brain injury are Maori says more about behaviour than it does about race.

"Brain injury's not something that picks out one ethnicity over another," Ms Green-Philpott says. "It simply picks out the people who are perhaps greater risk-takers than others."