The Effect of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) on Cognitive Performance in a Sample of Active Duty U.S. Military Service Members

Abstract

Introduction Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is considered a signature injury from the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since the year 2000, over 370,000 U.S. active duty service members have been diagnosed with TBI. Although prior research has shown that even mild forms of TBI are associated with impaired cognitive performance, it is not clear which facets of cognition (computation, memory, reasoning, etc.) are impacted by injury. Method In the present study, we compared active duty military volunteers (n = 88) with and without TBI on six measures of cognition using the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metric software. Results Healthy volunteers exhibited significantly faster response times on the matching-to-sample, mathematical processing, and second round of simple reaction time tasks and had higher throughput scores on the mathematical processing and the second round of the simple reaction time tasks (P < 0.05). Conclusion In this population, cognitive impairments associated with TBI influenced performance requiring working memory and basic neural processing (speed/efficiency).

Latent Neuropsychological Profiles to Discriminate Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Active-Duty Service Members

“…8 Many military personnel with TBI show cognitive symptoms including executive dysfunction and disinhibition, slower processing speed, impaired attention, and concentration. 3,9 Other commonly reported symptoms across TBI severity include headaches, chronic pain, sleep disturbance, depression, anxiety, and irritability. [10][11][12] There is a critical need for additional research, as diagnostic and prognostic accuracy following TBI is complicated by several factors including the clinical and functional heterogeneity observed between individual patients and across research cohorts.…”

“…Approximately 10% to 20% of military personnel returning from combat report TBI or probable TBI,1–7 with more than 80% of these being mild TBI (mTBI) 8. Many military personnel with TBI show cognitive symptoms including executive dysfunction and disinhibition, slower processing speed, impaired attention, and concentration 3,9. Other commonly reported symptoms across TBI severity include headaches, chronic pain, sleep disturbance, depression, anxiety, and irritability 10–12.…”

21st Century Early Adult (55-74) Deaths from Brain-Disease-Deaths Compared to All Other Cause Mortality in the Major Western Countries – Exposing a Hidden Epidemic

“…One feature, linked to the USA, is that during the period they were involved in military activities and over 350,000 US military personnel had sustained a traumatic brain injury, which of course is related to later neurodegenerative conditions [16,17], though this is not without controversy [18]. However, other countries have also reported higher than expected neurological conditions in their former military personnel, whose environment often carries a range of various occupational hazards [19][20][21][22][23] There is the issue of possible better diagnosis of early-onset-dementia and the Gompertzian hypothesis that states people are now living longer to develop age-related diseases [6][7][8].…”

Discriminating Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Using Latent Neuroimaging and Neuropsychological Profiles in Active-Duty Military Service Members

“…5 mTBI often results in varied symptoms including headache, decreased processing speed, memory and attention performance, and psychosocial symptoms. 2,6,7 Many military personnel with mTBI will recover to normal function, but a significant proportion experience chronic cognitive complaints. 2,8 Volumetric cortical and subcortical gray matter (GM) abnormalities are typically associated with moderate and severe TBI, but subtle changes are noted in the cingulate, hippocampus, amygdala, and basal ganglia after mTBI, although location and extent of volume loss are inconsistent across studies.…”

“…UP TO 20% OF US SERVICE MEMBERS report traumatic brain injury (TBI) or probable TBI,1–4 with approximately 80% or more being mild TBI (mTBI) 5. mTBI often results in varied symptoms including headache, decreased processing speed, memory and attention performance, and psychosocial symptoms 2,6,7. Many military personnel with mTBI will recover to normal function, but a significant proportion experience chronic cognitive complaints 2,8.…”