Factors associated with recovery from posttraumatic stress disorder in combat veterans: The role of deployment mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).
Anna S Ord, Erica L Epstein, Elizabeth R Shull and 3 others
PMID 35420867WHAT IT FOUND
Veterans recovered from PTSD reported lower depression, pain, and neurobehavioral symptoms, better sleep, and higher quality of life than those with current PTSD.
Cognitive scores did not differ by recovery alone, but recovered veterans with deployment mTBI had better processing speed.
Key findings
01Veterans who had recovered from PTSD reported lower depression and PTSD symptoms, lower neurobehavioral symptoms and pain interference, better sleep quality, and higher quality of life than veterans with current PTSD.
02Recovery from PTSD alone was not associated with cognitive differences, but among veterans with deployment mTBI history, recovered veterans showed better processing speed than those with current PTSD.
03Veterans who had not recovered from PTSD reported higher average and maximum blast pressure than recovered veterans, although the percentage exposed and number of blast events were similar.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study compared groups at one time point, so it cannot show whether recovery from PTSD caused better functioning or whether better functioning helped people recover. The sample was mostly male, and the number of female veterans was too small to draw statistical conclusions. The study did not collect treatment information, so it cannot say which therapies helped veterans recover. Blast exposure and TBI history relied on veterans' recall of events that happened a long time ago, although participants who failed symptom or performance validity tests were excluded. All veterans had lifetime service-related PTSD, so findings do not apply to veterans without PTSD or to people with non-military trauma. Cognitive differences were small, and all groups scored in the low average to average, not impaired, range on cognitive tests.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest were disclosed. Funding came from Department of Defense CENC Award W81XWH-13-2-0095 and VA CENC Award I01 CX001135, with resources from Salisbury VA Healthcare System, Mid-Atlantic MIRECC, and VA Office of Academic Affiliations.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that deployment mTBI alone causes cognitive impairment. Cognitive scores were in the low average to average range, not impaired, and the processing speed difference appeared only when deployment mTBI history was combined with current PTSD.