Traumatic Brain Injury Recorded in the UK Joint Theatre Trauma Registry Among the UK Armed Forces

BackgroundMild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is being claimed as the ‘signature’ injury of the Iraq war, and is believed to be the cause of long-term symptomatic ill health (post-concussional syndrome; PCS) in an unknown proportion of military personnel.MethodWe analysed cross-sectional data from a large, randomly selected cohort of UK military personnel deployed to Iraq (n=5869). Two markers of PCS were generated: ‘PCS symptoms’ (indicating the presence of mTBI-related symptoms: none, 1–2, 3+) and ‘PCS symptom severity’ (indicating the presence of mTBI-related symptoms at either a moderate or severe level of severity: none, 1–2, 3+).ResultsPCS symptoms and PCS symptom severity were associated with self-reported exposure to blast whilst in a combat zone. However, the same symptoms were also associated with other in-theatre exposures such as potential exposure to depleted uranium and aiding the wounded. Strong associations were apparent between having PCS symptoms and other health outcomes, in particular being a post-traumatic stress disorder or General Health Questionnaire case.ConclusionsPCS symptoms are common and some are related to exposures such as blast injury. However, this association is not specific, and the same symptom complex is also related to numerous other risk factors and exposures. Post-deployment screening for PCS and/or mTBI in the absence of contemporaneous recording of exposure is likely to be fraught with hazards.

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Comparison between traumatic brain injury with and without concomitant injuries: an analysis based on a national trauma registry 2008–2016

Brain Injury ◽

10.1080/02699052.2019.1683893 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 213-223 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Abebe Tiruneh ◽

Maya Siman-Tov ◽

Adi Givon ◽

Israel Trauma Group ◽

Kobi Peleg

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Trauma Registry ◽

Concomitant Injuries ◽

National Trauma

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Evaluating the impact of cycle helmet use on severe traumatic brain injury and death in a national cohort of over 11000 pedal cyclists: a retrospective study from the NHS England Trauma Audit and Research Network dataset

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027845 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (9) ◽

pp. e027845 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Nick Dodds ◽

Rowena Johnson ◽

Benjamin Walton ◽

Omar Bouamra ◽

David Yates ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Severe Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Research Network ◽

Lower Limb Injury ◽

Helmet Use ◽

Mortality And Morbidity ◽

National Cohort ◽

The Uk ◽

The Impact

ObjectivesIn the last 10 years there has been a significant increase in cycle traffic in the UK, with an associated increase in the overall number of cycling injuries. Despite this, and the significant media, political and public health debate into this issue, there remains an absence of studies from the UK assessing the impact of helmet use on rates of serious injury presenting to the National Health Service (NHS) in cyclists.SettingThe NHS England Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) Database was interrogated to identify all adult (≥16 years) patients presenting to hospital with cycling-related major injuries, during a period from 14 March 2012 to 30 September 2017 (the last date for which a validated dataset was available).Participants11 192 patients met inclusion criteria. Data on the use of cycling helmets were available in 6621 patients.Outcome measuresTARN injury descriptors were used to compare patterns of injury, care and mortality in helmeted versus non-helmeted cohorts.ResultsData on cycle helmet use were available for 6621 of the 11 192 cycle-related injuries entered onto the TARN Database in the 66 months of this study (93 excluded as not pedal cyclists). There was a significantly higher crude 30-day mortality in un-helmeted cyclists 5.6% (4.8%–6.6%) versus helmeted cyclists 1.8% (1.4%–2.2%) (p<0.001). Cycle helmet use was also associated with a reduction in severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) 19.1% (780, 18.0%–20.4%) versus 47.6% (1211, 45.6%–49.5%) (p<0.001), intensive care unit requirement 19.6% (797, 18.4%–20.8%) versus 27.1% (691, 25.4%–28.9%) (p<0.001) and neurosurgical intervention 2.5% (103, 2.1%–3.1%) versus 8.5% (217, 7.5%–9.7%) (p<0.001). There was a statistically significant increase in chest, spinal, upper and lower limb injury in the helmeted group in comparison to the un-helmeted group (all p<0.001), though in a subsequent analysis of these anatomical injury patterns, those cyclists wearing helmets were still found to have lower rates of TBI. In reviewing TARN injury codes for specific TBI and facial injuries, there was a highly significant decrease in rates of impact injury between cyclists wearing helmets and those not.ConclusionsThis study suggests that there is a significant correlation between use of cycle helmets and reduction in adjusted mortality and morbidity associated with TBI and facial injury.

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