Effect of clinical characteristics on cognitive performance in service members and veterans with histories of blast-related mild traumatic brain injury

Abstract Objective: To examine the relationship between clinical characteristics and cognitive performance in service members and veterans with histories of blast-related mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Design: This study consisted of 40 Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OI...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain injury 2014-12, Vol.28 (13-14), p.1667-1674
Main Authors: Neipert, Leslie, Pastorek, Nicholas J., Troyanskaya, Maya, Scheibel, Randall S., Petersen, Nancy J., Levin, Harvey S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Afghan Campaign 2001
Blast
Blast Injuries - complications
Blast Injuries - physiopathology
Blast Injuries - psychology
Brain Injuries - etiology
Brain Injuries - physiopathology
Brain Injuries - psychology
Chronic Pain - etiology
Chronic Pain - psychology
Cognitive Dysfunction - diagnosis
Cognitive Dysfunction - etiology
cognitive function
Comorbidity
concussion
Executive Function
Female
Humans
Iraq War, 2003-2011
Male
mild traumatic brain injury
Neuropsychological Tests
post-traumatic stress disorder
Reaction Time
Self Report
Severity of Illness Index
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders - etiology
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders - psychology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - etiology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - physiopathology
Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology
Veterans - psychology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Objective: To examine the relationship between clinical characteristics and cognitive performance in service members and veterans with histories of blast-related mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Design: This study consisted of 40 Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) service members and veterans; 20 participants reported blast exposure and alteration of mental status consistent with mTBI and 20 participants denied blast exposure and had no history of traumatic brain injury (TBI), but could have experienced extra-cranial injuries. Measures of simple reaction time, processing speed, visual attention, working memory and mathematical processing were used to assess long-term effects of mTBI. Measures of post-traumatic stress symptom severity, pain intensity, sleep difficulty and subjective appraisal of cognition at time of testing were also obtained. Multivariate analyses were conducted with clinical characteristics and mTBI history as predictors of cognitive performance. Results: There was no evidence of an effect of mTBI history on cognitive performance in this sample. However, post-traumatic stress symptom severity was significantly related to two measures of cognitive performance. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the importance of considering the effects of current clinical symptoms (e.g. post-traumatic stress) as possibly having greater influence on current cognitive functioning than the effects of a remote history of mTBI.
ISSN:0269-9052
1362-301X
DOI:10.3109/02699052.2014.947623