The incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in older individuals is increasing with an increase in the older population. For older people, the required medical interventions and hospitalization following minor head injury have negative impacts, which have not been reported in literature up till now. We aimed to investigate the risk factors for clinically important traumatic brain injury (ciTBI) in older patients with minor head injury.

This is a retrospective single-center cohort study. Older patients aged ≥65 years presenting with head injury and a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of ≥13 upon arrival at the hospital between January 1, 2018, and October 31, 2021, were included. Patients with an injury duration of ≥24 h were excluded. The primary outcome was defined as ciTBI (including death, surgery, intubation, medical interventions, and hospital stays of ≥2 nights). Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the risk factors.

A total of 296 patients were included initially, and 6 of them were excluded subsequently. ciTBI was identified in 62 cases. According to the results of the multiple logistic regression analysis, GCS scores of ≤14 (OR 3.72, 95% CI 1.89–7.30), high-risk mechanisms of injury (OR 2.80, 95% CI 1.39–5.64), vomiting (OR 5.01, 95% CI 1.19–21.1), and retrograde amnesia (OR 6.90, 95% CI 3.37–14.1) were identified as risk factors.

In older patients with minor head injury, GCS ≤14, high-risk mechanisms of injury, vomiting, and retrograde amnesia are risk factors for ciTBI.