MTBI Post-Blast Exposure in US Military

Identifying Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries Post-Blast Exposure in US Military

Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is characterized by a head injury that causes memory loss, a change in the mental state during the moment of the accident, or the absence of consciousness for no more than thirty minutes. Patients with MTBI have GCS scores between 13 and 15 at the time they present for medical care.¹ Between 1.5 million and 2 million patients seek treatment for head trauma in North American emergency departments each year, with 70 to 90 percent suffering from MTBI.¹ It excludes the numerous individuals who suffer brain injuries yet decide against seeking medical assistance. Teenagers and young adults are at an increased risk for mTBI, while older individuals and young children also have significant morbidity.¹ Men are more likely than women to suffer from mTBI. Falls and auto accidents are the most frequent causes.¹ Military personnel are another group at a high risk of experiencing mTBI and will be the focus population in this project.

Head trauma from blast exposure is a growingly serious health concern as a consequence of armed conflict, especially for military duty members. Blast-related injuries are the most militarily distinctive kind of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), which has been dubbed one of the signature wounds of war.² Physical injury to the brain from blast-related accidents has many potential causes, including direct and/or indirect exposure to high-pressure conditions. Blast injuries sustained while serving in the military are frequently caused by improvised explosive devices, occupational training, and the discharge of heavy armaments.² The origin, treatment, and recovery from blast-related mTBI are still poorly understood despite more than ten years of research.

(MTBI Post-Blast Exposure in US Military)

Although blast exposure is widespread among service members, its long-term psychological repercussions, separate from any subsequent mild traumatic brain injury, are not well understood. It is partly because there is no universally accepted definition of what blast exposure entails.³ Although the physical injuries caused by bomb exposure can be classified as primary, secondary, tertiary, or quaternary, many blasts that service members face do not cause these brain injuries. Additionally, experiencing a blast or explosive incident may not always cause symptoms consistent with a mild traumatic brain injury.³ The project seeks to develop interventions to help identify mTBI post-blast exposure and improve scientific knowledge on blast-related mTBI detection and implications.

References

Georges A. Traumatic brain injury. In: StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing. 2022.

Martindale S L, Ord A S, Rule L G, Rowland J A. Effects of blast exposure on psychiatric and health symptoms in combat veterans. Journal of psychiatric research, 143, 189-195. 2021. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022395621005616

Phipps H, Mondello S, Wilson A, Dittmer T, Rohde NN, Schroeder PJ, Nichols J, McGirt C, Hoffman J, Tanksley K, Chohan M. Characteristics and impact of US military blast-related mild traumatic brain injury: a systematic review. Frontiers in neurology. 2020.

MTBI Post-Blast Exposure in US Military