Elevated Tau in Military Personnel Relates to Chronic Symptoms Following Traumatic Brain Injury
- 1 January 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation
- Vol. 35 (1), 66-73
- https://doi.org/10.1097/HTR.0000000000000485
Abstract
Objective: To understand the relationships between traumatic brain injury (TBI), blood biomarkers, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and postconcussive syndrome symptoms. Design: Cross-sectional cohort study using multivariate analyses. Participants: One hundred nine military personnel and veterans, both with and without a history of TBI. Main Measures: PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C); Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI); Ohio State University TBI Identification Method; Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9); Simoa-measured concentrations of tau, amyloid-beta (A beta) 40, A beta 42, and neurofilament light (NFL). Results: Controlling for age, sex, time since last injury (TSLI), and antianxiety/depression medication use, NFL was trending toward being significantly elevated in participants who had sustained 3 or more TBIs compared with those who had sustained 1 or 2 TBIs. Within the TBI group, partial correlations that controlled for age, sex, TSLI, and antianxiety/depression medication use showed that tau concentrations were significantly correlated with greater symptom severity, as measured with the NSI, PCL, and PHQ-9. Conclusions: Elevations in tau are associated with symptom severity after TBI, while NFL levels are elevated in those with a history of repetitive TBIs and in military personnel and veterans. This study shows the utility of measuring biomarkers chronically postinjury. Furthermore, there is a critical need for studies of biomarkers longitudinally following TBI.Keywords
This publication has 49 references indexed in Scilit:
- Repetitive Traumatic Brain Injury, Psychological Symptoms, and Suicide Risk in a Clinical Sample of Deployed Military PersonnelJAMA Psychiatry, 2013
- Olympic boxing is associated with elevated levels of the neuronal protein tau in plasmaBrain Injury, 2013
- Sensory Cortex Underpinnings of Traumatic Brain Injury DeficitsPLOS ONE, 2012
- The PTSD Checklist—Civilian Version: Reliability, Validity, and Factor Structure in a Nonclinical SampleJournal of Clinical Psychology, 2012
- CSF-Biomarkers in Olympic Boxing: Diagnosis and Effects of Repetitive Head TraumaPLOS ONE, 2012
- Prevalence and Costs of Co-occurring Traumatic Brain Injury With and Without Psychiatric Disturbance and Pain Among Afghanistan and Iraq War Veteran VA UsersMedical Care, 2012
- Measuring depression and PTSD after trauma: Common scales and checklistsInjury, 2011
- Prevalence, Assessment, and Treatment of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Posttraumatic Stress DisorderJournal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 2011
- Initial Reliability and Validity of the Ohio State University TBI Identification MethodJournal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, 2007
- The PHQ-9Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2001