Multisite Investigation of Traumatic Brain Injuries, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Self-reported Health and Cognitive Impairments

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) constitutes a major public health problem for both veteran and civilian trauma-exposed patient populations.^1-7 The US involvement in the current Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts has brought the interrelationship between TBI and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to the forefront of medical research, commentary, and practice.^8-19 Many earlier studies of TBI and PTSD focused on injured civilians presenting with a full spectrum of mild, moderate, and severe TBI.^20-33 More recent published investigations have focused on returning soldiers with mild TBI^1,34,35 and the substantial number of wounded combat veterans who incur varying degrees of TBI in conjunction with multiple injuries to other body regions.^36-40