Latent Neuropsychological Profiles to Discriminate Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Active-Duty Service Members.
Carrie Esopenko, Nicola L de Souza, Yuane Jia and 14 others
PMID 35452025WHAT IT FOUND
Statistical clustering of symptoms and test scores separated service members into five profiles, but diagnostic labels like mild TBI or PTSD did not map cleanly to them.
Many with mild TBI plus PTSD showed normal functioning, while others had combined deficits.
Key findings
01Participants clustered into five distinct profiles: high functioning, normal functioning, cognitive symptoms only, psychological symptoms only, and combined cognitive and psychological symptoms.
02Most service members with mild traumatic brain injury alone fell into the normal or high functioning groups, with only about 30% in the cognitive symptoms group.
03Those with both mild traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder were dispersed across all dysfunction groups, with high representation in the combined symptoms class but also a similar proportion in the normal functioning group.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The group with both mTBI and PTSD was defined using self-report cut-off scores rather than clinician-confirmed diagnoses, which may not accurately reflect true comorbidity. Sample sizes were unequal between the diagnostic groups, and the PTSD-only group was small (n=23). The mTBI participants were required to have persistent cognitive symptoms to be enrolled, so the results may not apply to all people with a history of mild TBI, particularly those who recovered quickly. The study only included participants 3 to 24 months post-injury, so it does not reflect acute recovery patterns. The sample was predominantly male, so sex differences could not be adequately analyzed.
Declared interests
The research was supported by the U.S. Government and the National Institutes of Health. No specific commercial conflicts of interest are detailed in the provided text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the 'Combined Cognitive and Psychological Symptoms' profile as the inevitable outcome for patients with both mild TBI and PTSD. The study found that a similar proportion of these patients fell into the 'Normal Functioning' profile, meaning a comorbid diagnosis does not predict a specific severe symptom cluster.