Citation

Cifu DX, Taylor BC, Carne WF, Bidelspach D, Sayer NA, Scholten JD, Campbell EH. J. Rehabil. Res. Dev. 2014; 50(9): 1169-1176.

Affiliation

Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 1223 East Marshall St, Richmond, VA 23298-0677. dcifu@vcu.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Rehabilitation Research and Development Service, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs)

DOI

10.1682/JRRD.2013.01.0006

PMID

24458958

Abstract

To identify the prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and pain in Veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation New Dawn (OIF/OEF/OND), Veterans who received any inpatient or outpatient care from Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities from 2009 to 2011 were studied. A subset of Veterans was identified who were diagnosed with TBI, PTSD, and/or pain (head, neck, or back) as determined by their International Classification of Diseases-9th Revision-Clinical Modification codes. Between fiscal years 2009 and 2011, 613,391 Veterans accessed VHA services at least once (age: 31.9 +/- 9.6 yr). TBI diagnosis in any 1 year was slightly less than 7%. When data from 3 years were pooled, 9.6% were diagnosed with TBI, 29.3% were diagnosed with PTSD, and 40.2% were diagnosed with pain. The full polytrauma triad expression (TBI, PTSD, and pain) was diagnosed in 6.0%. Results show that increasing numbers of Veterans from OIF/OEF/OND accessed VHA over a 3 year period. Among those with a TBI diagnosis, the majority also had a mental health disorder, with approximately half having both PTSD and pain. While the absolute number of Veterans increased by over 40% from 2009 to 2011, the proportion of Veterans diagnosed with TBI and the high rate of comorbid PTSD and pain in this population remained relatively stable.

Language: en