No difference found in rate of blast-, nonblast-related concussions in military personnel

The most common cause of traumatic brain injuries in veterans returning from Iraq or Afghanistan is explosions, according to a press release from Washington University School of Medicine. However, a new study shows that mild brain trauma related to explosions had similar outcomes to mild brain trauma that resulted from other causes.

“We still think the physics of how a blast interacts with the brain is quite different from other kinds of brain trauma,” senior author David L. Brody, MD, PhD, said in the press release “But we have yet to find the consequences of that — if there are any — for patients.”

Brody and colleagues examined 225 U.S. military personnel injured on active duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. Among these individuals, 178 were evaluated again 6 to 12 months later to assess long-term outcomes; 53 had mild traumatic brain injury involving an explosion and 29 had mild traumatic brain injury unrelated to a blast. For comparison, the researchers also included 27 military personnel with blast exposure but no brain injuries and 69 with no blast exposure who were evacuated for medical reasons other than brain injury.

After comparing the two groups with traumatic brain injury, the research team saw no difference in overall disability, with 77% of the blast group suffering moderate to severe disability compared with 79% of the nonblast group. Both brain injury groups exhibited worse overall disability when compared with the control groups, according to the researchers.

Disclosure: See the study for a full list of all authors’ relevant financial disclosures.