The Impact of Blast Exposure-With or Without Traumatic Brain Injury-on Metabolic Abnormalities in Post-9/11 Veterans.
Dora Lendvai, Robin Whittemore, Julie A Womack and 3 others
PMID 36951458WHAT IT FOUND
Blast exposure, close blast exposure within 10 meters, or blast-related TBI were not associated with abnormal waist-hip ratio, waist circumference, glucose, or metabolic syndrome in 734 post-9/11 Veterans.
Key findings
01There was no association between history of blast exposure, close blast exposure, or blast-related TBI and overweight/obesity, glucose dysregulation, or metabolic syndrome.
02Dose-response analyses by number of blast exposures, close blast exposures, or blast-related TBIs, and analyses by blast distance, were also non-significant.
03No direct or indirect associations were found when co-occurring psychological or somatic conditions were tested as mediators.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that blast exposure or TBI caused metabolic abnormalities. Participants were a convenience sample of Veterans enrolled at VA sites, so findings may not apply to all post-9/11 Veterans. Blast exposure history was assessed retrospectively and can be affected by recall bias. The sample was relatively young, with an average of five years since military service, which may be too soon for metabolic decline to appear. Diet, physical activity, stress management, and detailed sleep patterns were not measured, so they could have influenced metabolic outcomes. The sensitivity analysis comparing TBI types was small and not adequately powered, and the supporting data were not shown. A prevalence sentence reports abnormal waist-hip ratio with different percentages, so exact prevalence figures should be checked in the source.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflicts of interest. They also state that the manuscript is their responsibility and not necessarily the official views of the NIH, VA, or the United States government.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that blast exposure or blast-related TBI causes metabolic abnormalities. The primary analyses were cross-sectional and found no association, and the sensitivity analysis that suggested higher metabolic syndrome risk for blunt TBI was a small secondary analysis.