Two Decades of Department of Veterans Affairs Traumatic Brain Injury Care and Benefits for Veterans of Post-9/11 Conflicts.
Gale Whiteneck, William Williams, Emily Almeida and 5 others
PMID 38652670WHAT IT FOUND
The VA TBI Registry has identified 441,639 post-9/11 Veterans with possible or confirmed TBI.
Most were classified as mild, and some still reported symptoms months to years later.
Key findings
01The Registry contains 441,639 unique Veterans, and 53.1% entered through more than one pathway.
02Among Veterans with a confirmed TBI after a Comprehensive TBI Evaluation, 86.6% were classified as mild TBI, 8.3% as moderate TBI, and 4.1% as severe TBI.
03Veterans with a TBI diagnostic code had 66,503 inpatient hospitalizations and 1,521,898 outpatient visits.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
Registry membership does not mean every Veteran had a clinically confirmed TBI; some qualified by self-report on the screen, by TBI diagnostic codes, or by a disability claim, and the authors state not all met stringent clinical criteria. Administrative data may not always match the Veteran's clinical experience. The data cover only post-9/11 Veterans who sought VA care or benefits; it is unknown how Veterans who do not use the VA differ. Data sources had different cutoffs: deployment history through 9/30/2020 and other files through 9/30/2021. This is a descriptive registry report, not a treatment trial, so it does not show whether any rehabilitation service improved outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 441,639 Registry count as 441,639 Veterans with clinically confirmed TBI. Many entered through self-report, diagnostic coding, or disability claims, and the authors state not all met stringent clinical criteria.