Issue title: Military Traumatic Brain Injury and Blast
Guest editors: David F. Moorexy and Michael S. Jaffeex
Article type: Research Article
Authors: Drake, Angela I.c; * | Meyer, Kimberly S.c | Cessante, Lynne M.a | Cheung, Catherine R.a | Cullen, Maren A.a | McDonald, Eric C.b | Holland, Martin C.b
Affiliations: [a] Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Naval Medical Center, San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA | [b] Naval Medical Center, San Diego, CA, USA | [c] Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA | [x] Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA | [y] Institute of Soldier Nanotechnology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Address for correspondence: Angela I. Drake, PhD., Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Building 1, Room B209, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20307-5001, USA. Tel.: +1 619 534 3359 (CA); +1 202 782 6345 (DC); Fax: +1 202 782 4400; E-mail: adrake@dvbic.org
Abstract: A precise estimate of the rates of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in returning combat troops is difficult to establish given the challenges of screening large numbers of military personnel returning from combat deployments. The Brief Traumatic Brain Injury Screen (BTBIS) was implemented in the First Marine Expeditionary Force between 2004 and 2006. Nine percent of the 7909 marines who completed the BTBIS were considered having a positive screen; that is, they endorsed at least one injury mechanism and indicated a change in mental status at the time of injury. The majority of combat-related TBI's were due to multiple injury agents with the next largest group related to blast exposure only. Most importantly, of those who screened positive for TBI 70.5% (n = 500) were first identified by the screen. Service members who endorsed items on the BTBIS were contacted for follow-up assessment of persistent symptoms related to TBI and clinical referrals were made as needed. Given the rate of positive TBI screens in this non-referred sample of military personnel returning from a combat deployment, routine TBI screening appears valuable in screening individuals who might not be identified otherwise. Furthermore, this study appears to refute the contention that routine TBI screening will result in an over-identification of TBI in this population.
Keywords: Blast, combat veteran, injury mechanism, Iraq, Afghanistan, Marines, military, post-deployment, prevalence, screening, traumatic brain injury
DOI: 10.3233/NRE-2010-0554
Journal: NeuroRehabilitation, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 183-189, 2010
