TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2014//
TI  - Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) among UK military personnel whilst deployed in Afghanistan in 2011
JO  - Brain injury
A1  - Jones, Norman
A1  - Fear, Nicola T.
A1  - Rona, Roberto J.
A1  - Fertout, Mohammed
A1  - Thandi, Gursimran
A1  - Wessely, Simon
A1  - Greenberg, Neil
SP  - 896
EP  - 899
VL  - 28
IS  - 7
N2  - 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>
LA  - en
SN  - 0269-9052
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699052.2014.888479
ID  - ref1
ER  -