February 10, 2012 - In recent years, collaboration has increased between Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) researchers, especially in the areas of traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological health topics.As many as 229,000 service members worldwide have received a clinical diagnosis of TBI since 2000. When comparing those who deployed to the overall diagnosed cases of TBI since 2005, almost 17,000 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have incurred a TBI in theater. Nearly 89,000 service members who deployed have received a PTSD diagnosis, compared to about 23,000 individuals who have never deployed experiencing PTSD. Many service members and veterans will recover—depending on the extent of the injury or disorder —but others will face greater recovery challenges. More than ever before in history, federal researchers are pressing to make strides in understanding these medical issues.
Ramping up the dialogue
DoD and VA researchers are charged with finding specific solutions that enable appropriate protection and treatment options for their respective populations of service members and veterans. The agencies “divide and conquer” within research topics while also recognizing the value collaboration offers for certain areas. For a topic like TBI, VA investigators typically take the lead in exploring long-term complications that might affect veterans, while DoD researchers often focus more on acute detection and immediate treatment to prevent further damage.
A major step forward in the VA-DoD partnership was the publication in 2011 of “common data elements,” developed after a conference in 2009 that also involved the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Researchers from the different agencies can now “talk the same language” when studying brain and psychological disorders. They can similarly define injuries and use equivalent measures to diagnose conditions and gauge the effectiveness of new therapies, promising to speed progress toward new knowledge and improved treatments. read more>>>
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