New Study: PTS, Mild TBI or Both

Study Ties Problems to Post-traumatic Stress

Jan. 6, 2011 – Service members who suffer mild traumatic brain injuries in combat and then struggle with depression, irritability, alcohol abuse and similar problems after they return home most likely are experiencing post-traumatic stress, rather than brain injury symptoms, according to a new study.

The study, sponsored by the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments and published in this month’s Archives of General Psychiatry, a Journal of the American Medical Association publication, tracked Minnesota National Guard soldiers during the last month of their 16-month deployment to Iraq, then again a year after they returned home.

The findings, based on the self-reporting of 953 soldiers with follow-ups from the clinicians, showed “very little evidence for a long-term negative impact” from concussions or mild TBI on “psycho-social outcomes” –- anxiety, depression, drug and alcohol abuse and the like -- after accounting for post-traumatic stress, said Melissa A. Polusny, a clinical psychologist at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System and a professor at University of Minnesota Medical School.

Polusny wrote the study along with five other clinical psychologists, and in collaboration with Army Col. (Dr.) Michael Rath, a surgeon with the 34th Infantry Division brigade that participated in the study.

“After we statistically controlled for PTSD symptoms, there were virtually no long-term symptoms from concussive and mild TBI,” she said.

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Many of the soldiers who answered that they did not have mild TBI or post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms actually did, the VA’s publication brief of the study says. Of those, 64 percent reported having problems with distractibility and irritability, 60 percent reported memory problems, 57 percent reported ringing in the ears, and 23 percent had balance problems.

Another notable finding, Polusny said, is that after their return home, more than 40 percent of the Iraq war veterans reported some levels of alcohol abuse.

“There’s been a lot of attention paid to PTSD and mild TBI and even suicide risk, but the prevalence of problem drinking appears to be much higher among returning service members than any of these other problems,” she said. {continued}

Abstract of the Study of PTSD in Minnesota National Guard Soldiers