INTRODUCTION: mTBI has been termed the 'signature injury' of recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Most mTBI research uses retrospective accounts of exposure and point of injury symptoms; mTBI is reportedly less common among UK than US Forces. METHODS: This study examined the rate of mTBI exposure and symptoms in 1363 UK military personnel deployed in Afghanistan in 2011 using a self-report questionnaire. Data were collected in the operational location during the 5th month of a 6-month deployment. Personnel reported injuries and symptoms related to six events including fragmentation, blast, bullet, fall, motor vehicle accident and 'other' exposure. RESULTS: Eighty (5.9%) reported at least one potential mTBI exposure during the current deployment and 1.6% (n = 22) reported injury and one or more mTBI symptoms (1 year incidence rate = 3.2%). Higher PTSD symptom scores were significantly associated with reporting potential mTBI (p ≤ 0.001) and mTBI with symptoms (p ≤ 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study used contemporaneous data gathered in the deployed location which are subject to less memory distortion than studies using post-deployment recall. The incidence of mTBI was substantially lower than those reported in both US and UK post-deployment studies which is consistent with inflated reporting of symptoms when measured post-deployment.
INTRODUCTION: mTBI has been termed the 'signature injury' of recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Most mTBI research uses retrospective accounts of exposure and point of injury symptoms; mTBI is reportedly less common among UK than US Forces. METHODS: This study examined the rate of mTBI exposure and symptoms in 1363 UK military personnel deployed in Afghanistan in 2011 using a self-report questionnaire. Data were collected in the operational location during the 5th month of a 6-month deployment. Personnel reported injuries and symptoms related to six events including fragmentation, blast, bullet, fall, motor vehicle accident and 'other' exposure. RESULTS: Eighty (5.9%) reported at least one potential mTBI exposure during the current deployment and 1.6% (n = 22) reported injury and one or more mTBI symptoms (1 year incidence rate = 3.2%). Higher PTSD symptom scores were significantly associated with reporting potential mTBI (p ≤ 0.001) and mTBI with symptoms (p ≤ 0.001). CONCLUSION: This study used contemporaneous data gathered in the deployed location which are subject to less memory distortion than studies using post-deployment recall. The incidence of mTBI was substantially lower than those reported in both US and UK post-deployment studies which is consistent with inflated reporting of symptoms when measured post-deployment.
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Keywords:
Concussion; cultural; evaluation; head injury; mild brain injury; neuropsychiatric
Authors: Murray B Stein; Robert J Ursano; Laura Campbell-Sills; Lisa J Colpe; Carol S Fullerton; Steven G Heeringa; Matthew K Nock; Nancy A Sampson; Michael Schoenbaum; Xiaoying Sun; Sonia Jain; Ronald C Kessler Journal: J Neurotrauma Date: 2016-04-08 Impact factor: 5.269
Authors: Zora Kikinis; Marc Muehlmann; Ofer Pasternak; Sharon Peled; Praveen Kulkarni; Craig Ferris; Sylvain Bouix; Yogesh Rathi; Inga K Koerte; Steve Pieper; Alexander Yarmarkovich; Caryn L Porter; Bruce S Kristal; Martha E Shenton Journal: Brain Inj Date: 2017-06-19 Impact factor: 2.311