@article{ref1,
title="Health symptoms after war zone deployment-related mild traumatic brain injury: contributions of mental disorders and lifetime brain injuries",
journal="Brain injury",
year="2021",
author="McDonald, Scott D. and Walker, William C. and Cusack, Shannon E. and Yoash-Gantz, Ruth E. and Pickett, Treven C. and Cifu, David X. and Mid-Atlantic Mirecc Workgroup, Va and Tupler, Larry A.",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: To gain a better understanding of the complex relationship between combat deployment-related mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and persistent post-concussive symptoms (PPCSs), taking into consideration a wide range of potentially mediating and confounding factors. RESEARCH DESIGN: Cross-sectional. <br><br>METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Subjects were 613 U. S. military Veterans and Service Members who served during operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, or New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND) and completed a structured interview of mental disorders and a battery of questionnaires. Hierarchical binary logistic regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: After accounting for mental disorders, lifetime mTBIs outside of OEF/OIF/OND deployment, medical conditions, and injury/demographic characteristics, deployment-related mTBI continued to be associated with several PPCSs (headaches, sleep disturbance, and difficulty making decisions). Deployment-related mTBI was also associated with two symptoms not normally associated with mTBI (nausea/upset stomach and numbness/tingling). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: After adjusting for a wide range of factors, OEF/OIF/OND deployment-related mTBI was still associated with PPCSs on average 10 years after the injury. These findings suggest that mTBI sustained during OEF/OIF/OND deployment may have enduring negative health effects. More studies are needed that prospectively and longitudinally track health and mental health outcomes after TBI.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0269-9052",
doi="10.1080/02699052.2021.1959058",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2021.1959058"
}