Age-Specific Clinical Biomarker Ranges in Acute Head Injury, Non-TBI Trauma, and Healthy Control Subjects in the Emergency Department

The authors aimed to investigate how age influences blood-based biomarkers for traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared to the effects of the injury itself. Their findings reveal that age significantly affects biomarker levels, particularly for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and von Willebrand factor (vWF), with age-related changes often rivaling or exceeding those associated with TBI. This highlights the necessity for age-adjusted interpretations of biomarker data in clinical settings to avoid misclassification, especially in older patients.