@article{ref1,
title="Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) among UK military personnel whilst deployed in Afghanistan in 2011",
journal="Brain injury",
year="2014",
author="Jones, Norman and Fear, Nicola T. and Rona, Roberto J. and Fertout, Mohammed and Thandi, Gursimran and Wessely, Simon and Greenberg, Neil",
volume="28",
number="7",
pages="896-899",
abstract="INTRODUCTION: mTBI has been termed the 'signature injury' of recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Most mTBI research uses retrospective accounts of exposure and point of injury symptoms; mTBI is reportedly less common among UK than US Forces. <br><br>METHODS: This study examined the rate of mTBI exposure and symptoms in 1363 UK military personnel deployed in Afghanistan in 2011 using a self-report questionnaire. Data were collected in the operational location during the 5th month of a 6-month deployment. Personnel reported injuries and symptoms related to six events including fragmentation, blast, bullet, fall, motor vehicle accident and 'other' exposure. <br><br>RESULTS: Eighty (5.9%) reported at least one potential mTBI exposure during the current deployment and 1.6% (n = 22) reported injury and one or more mTBI symptoms (1 year incidence rate = 3.2%). Higher PTSD symptom scores were significantly associated with reporting potential mTBI (p ≤ 0.001) and mTBI with symptoms (p ≤ 0.001). <br><br>CONCLUSION: This study used contemporaneous data gathered in the deployed location which are subject to less memory distortion than studies using post-deployment recall. The incidence of mTBI was substantially lower than those reported in both US and UK post-deployment studies which is consistent with inflated reporting of symptoms when measured post-deployment.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0269-9052",
doi="10.3109/02699052.2014.888479",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699052.2014.888479"
}