The association between blast exposure and transdiagnostic health symptoms on systemic inflammation

Chronic elevation of systemic inflammation is observed in a wide range of disorders including PTSD, depression, and traumatic brain injury, all of which are relatively common in United States Veterans. Although previous work has demonstrated a link between inflammation and various diagnoses separately, few studies have examined transdiagnostic symptoms and inflammation within the same model. The objective of this study was to examine relationships between psychiatric and health variables and systemic inflammation, and to determine whether mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and/or exposure to blast munitions moderate these relationships. Confirmatory factor analysis in a large sample (N = 357) of post-9/11 Veterans demonstrated good fit to a four-factor model reflecting traumatic stress, affective, somatic, and metabolic latent variables. Hierarchical regression models revealed that each of the latent variables were associated with higher levels of systemic inflammation. However, the strongest relationship with inflammation emerged among those who had both war-zone blast exposures and metabolic dysregulation, even after adjusting for mental health latent variables. Exploratory analyses showed that blast exposure was associated with metabolic dysregulation in a dose-response manner, with self-reported closer blast proximity associated with the greatest metabolic dysregulation. Together, these results provide greater understanding of the types of symptoms most strongly associated with inflammation, and underscore the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle to reduce the impact of obesity and other metabolic symptoms on future chronic disease in younger to middle-aged Veterans.

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Traumatic brain injury

New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry ◽

10.1093/med/9780198713005.003.0047 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 464-474

Author(s):

Christian Lepage ◽

Inga K. Koerte ◽

Vivian Schultz ◽

Michael J. Coleman ◽

Martha E. Shenton

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Clinical Symptoms ◽

Treatment Options ◽

Diffuse Axonal Injury ◽

Term Outcome ◽

Long Term Outcome ◽

Blast Exposure ◽

Wide Range

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results from blunt trauma, acceleration–deceleration forces, rotational forces, or blast exposure to the head. The injury involves a heterogenous pattern of focal and/or diffuse axonal injury, leading to a wide range of symptoms. The severity of the injury covers the spectrum from mild to moderate to severe, with severe injury leading to possible coma and even death. The range of symptoms, the variability in treatment options, and the prognosis of TBI, as well as the psychosocial implications, make it a complex injury that often calls upon the services of neurosurgeons, neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and rehabilitation specialists to help patients achieve the best possible outcome. This chapter aims to provide an overview of TBI that includes the classification, epidemiology, aetiology, pathophysiology, clinical symptoms, long-term outcome, diagnostic implications, and differential diagnosis, as well as possible treatment options and future directions for research.

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Cerebral Vascular and Metabolic Response to Sustained Systemic Inflammation in Ovine Traumatic Brain Injury

Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism ◽

10.1097/01.wcb.0000141516.61418.82 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 24 (12) ◽

pp. 1400-1408 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Henning D. Stubbe ◽

Christoph Greiner ◽

Hugo Van Aken ◽

Christian H. Rickert ◽

Martin Westphal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Intracranial Pressure ◽

Inflammatory Response ◽

Systemic Inflammation ◽

Metabolic Response ◽

Cerebral Vasodilation ◽

Global Brain ◽

The Impact ◽

Cerebral Vascular

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is frequently accompanied by a systemic inflammatory response secondary to multiple trauma, shock, or infections. This study investigated the impact of sustained systemic inflammation on cerebral hemodynamics and metabolism in ovine traumatic brain injury. Fifteen sheep were investigated for 14 hours. Head injury was induced with a nonpenetrating stunner in anesthetized, ventilated animals. One group (TBI/Endo, n = 6) subsequently received a continuous endotoxin infusion for 12 hours, whereas a second group (TBI, n = 6) received the carrier. Three instrumented animals served as sham controls. Head impact significantly increased intracranial pressure from 9 ± 4 mm Hg to 21 ± 15 mm Hg (TBI/Endo) and from 10 ± 3 mm Hg to 24 ± 19 mm Hg (TBI) (means ± SD). Internal carotid blood flow increased and cerebral vascular resistance decreased ( P < 0.05) during the hyperdynamic inflammatory response between 10 and 14 hours in the TBI/Endo group, whereas these parameters were at baseline level in the TBI group. Intracranial pressure remained unchanged during this period, but increased during hypercapnia. The CMRO2, PaCO2, and arterial hematocrit values were identical among the groups between 10 and 14 hours. It is concluded that chronic endotoxemia in ovine traumatic brain injury was associated with cerebral vasodilation uncoupled from global brain metabolism. Different mechanisms appear to induce cerebral vasodilation in response to inflammation and hypercapnia.

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The impact of traumatic brain injury on developmental functioning in children: Mild TBI at home and school

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e556572013-079 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Rosalind Case ◽

Nicola Starkey ◽

Suzanne Barker-Collo ◽

Kelly Jones

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Mild Tbi ◽

Developmental Functioning ◽

The Impact ◽

Home And School ◽

At Home

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Prognostic value of demographic characteristics in traumatic brain injury: results from the IMPACT study.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.1087001.539961 ◽

2007 ◽

Author(s):

Donald Marion

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Prognostic Value ◽

Demographic Characteristics ◽

Impact Study ◽

The Impact

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A-126 Clinical Utility of Risk Factors to Predict Self-reported Neurobehavioral Outcome Following Traumatic Brain Injury: PTSD, Sleep, Resilience, and Lifetime Blast Exposure

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology ◽

10.1093/arclin/acaa068.126 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 35 (6) ◽

pp. 919-919

Author(s):

Lange R ◽

Lippa S ◽

Hungerford L ◽

Bailie J ◽

French L ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Risk Factor ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Clinical Utility ◽

Poor Sleep ◽

Post Injury ◽

Poor Outcome ◽

Blast Exposure ◽

Neurobehavioral Outcome

Abstract Objective To examine the clinical utility of PTSD, Sleep, Resilience, and Lifetime Blast Exposure as ‘Risk Factors’ for predicting poor neurobehavioral outcome following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods Participants were 993 service members/veterans evaluated following an uncomplicated mild TBI (MTBI), moderate–severe TBI (ModSevTBI), or injury without TBI (Injured Controls; IC); divided into three cohorts: (1) < 12 months post-injury, n = 237 [107 MTBI, 71 ModSevTBI, 59 IC]; (2) 3-years post-injury, n = 370 [162 MTBI, 80 ModSevTBI, 128 IC]; and (3) 10-years post-injury, n = 386 [182 MTBI, 85 ModSevTBI, 119 IC]. Participants completed a 2-hour neurobehavioral test battery. Odds Ratios (OR) were calculated to determine whether the ‘Risk Factors’ could predict ‘Poor Outcome’ in each cohort separately. Sixteen Risk Factors were examined using all possible combinations of the four risk factor variables. Poor Outcome was defined as three or more low scores (< 1SD) on five TBI-QOL scales (e.g., Fatigue, Depression). Results In all cohorts, the vast majority of risk factor combinations resulted in ORs that were ‘clinically meaningful’ (ORs > 3.00; range = 3.15 to 32.63, all p’s < .001). Risk factor combinations with the highest ORs in each cohort were PTSD (Cohort 1 & 2, ORs = 17.76 and 25.31), PTSD+Sleep (Cohort 1 & 2, ORs = 18.44 and 21.18), PTSD+Sleep+Resilience (Cohort 1, 2, & 3, ORs = 13.56, 14.04, and 20.08), Resilience (Cohort 3, OR = 32.63), and PTSD+Resilience (Cohort 3, OR = 24.74). Conclusions Singularly, or in combination, PTSD, Poor Sleep, and Low Resilience were strong predictors of poor outcome following TBI of all severities and injury without TBI. These variables may be valuable risk factors for targeted early interventions following injury.

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Traumatic Brain Injury: Effect of Litigation Status on Executive Functioning—A Pilot Study

Indian Journal of Neurotrauma ◽

10.1055/s-0040-1717214 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Simi Prakash K. ◽

Rajakumari P. Reddy ◽

Anna R. Mathulla ◽

Jamuna Rajeswaran ◽

Dhaval P. Shukla

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Working Memory ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Concept Formation ◽

Verbal Working Memory ◽

Self Report ◽

Semantic Fluency ◽

Set Shifting ◽

Wide Range

AbstractTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with a wide range of physiological, behavioral, emotional, and cognitive sequelae. Litigation status is one of the many factors that has an impact on recovery. The aim of this study was to compare executive functions, postconcussion, and depressive symptoms in TBI patients with and without litigation. A sample of 30 patients with TBI, 15 patients with litigation (medicolegal case [MLC]), and 15 without litigation (non-MLC) was assessed. The tools used were sociodemographic and clinical proforma, executive function tests, Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptom Questionnaire, and Beck Depression Inventory. Assessment revealed that more than 50% of patients showed deficits in category fluency, set shifting, and concept formation. The MLC group showed significant impairment on verbal working memory in comparison to the non-MLC group. The performance of both groups was comparable on tests of semantic fluency, visuospatial working memory, concept formation, set shifting, planning, and response inhibition. The MLC group showed more verbal working memory deficits in the absence of significant postconcussion and depressive symptoms on self-report measures.

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Impact of routine S100B protein assay on CT scan use in children with mild traumatic brain injury

Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) ◽

10.1515/cclm-2020-1293 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Fleur Lorton ◽

Jeanne Simon-Pimmel ◽

Damien Masson ◽

Elise Launay ◽

Christèle Gras-Le Guen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

University Hospital ◽

S100b Protein ◽

Research Network ◽

Ct Scans ◽

Intermediate Risk ◽

Protein Assay ◽

The Impact

AbstractObjectivesTo evaluate the impact of implementing a modified Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) rule including the S100B protein assay for managing mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in children.MethodsA before-and-after study was conducted in a paediatric emergency department of a French University Hospital from 2013 to 2015. We retrospectively included all consecutive children aged 4 months to 15 years who presented mTBI and were at intermediate risk for clinically important traumatic brain injury (ciTBI). We compared the proportions of CT scans performed and of in-hospital observations before (2013–2014) and after (2014–2015) implementation of a modified PECARN rule including the S100B protein assay.ResultsWe included 1,062 children with mTBI (median age 4.5 years, sex ratio [F/M] 0.73) who were at intermediate risk for ciTBI: 494 (46.5%) during 2013–2014 and 568 (53.5%) during 2014–2015. During 2014–2015, S100B protein was measured in 451 (79.4%) children within 6 h after mTBI. The proportion of CT scans and in-hospital observations significantly decreased between the two periods, from 14.4 to 9.5% (p=0.02) and 73.9–40.5% (p<0.01), respectively. The number of CT scans performed to identify a single ciTBI was reduced by two-thirds, from 18 to 6 CT scans, between 2013–2014 and 2014–2015. All children with ciTBI were identified by the rules.ConclusionsThe implementation of a modified PECARN rule including the S100B protein assay significantly decreased the proportion of CT scans and in-hospital observations for children with mTBI who were at intermediate risk for ciTBI.

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Interrupted time series design to evaluate ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM coding changes on trends in Colorado emergency department visits related to traumatic brain injury

Injury Epidemiology ◽

10.1186/s40621-021-00308-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Lauren Alexis De Crescenzo ◽

Barbara Alison Gabella ◽

Jewell Johnson

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Emergency Department ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Interrupted Time Series ◽

Emergency Department Visits ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

Icd 10 ◽

Ed Visits ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background The transition in 2015 to the Tenth Revision of the International Classification of Disease, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) in the US led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to propose a surveillance definition of traumatic brain injury (TBI) utilizing ICD-10-CM codes. The CDC’s proposed surveillance definition excludes “unspecified injury of the head,” previously included in the ICD-9-CM TBI surveillance definition. The study purpose was to evaluate the impact of the TBI surveillance definition change on monthly rates of TBI-related emergency department (ED) visits in Colorado from 2012 to 2017. Results The monthly rate of TBI-related ED visits was 55.6 visits per 100,000 persons in January 2012. This rate in the transition month to ICD-10-CM (October 2015) decreased by 41 visits per 100,000 persons (p-value < 0.0001), compared to September 2015, and remained low through December 2017, due to the exclusion of “unspecified injury of head” (ICD-10-CM code S09.90) in the proposed TBI definition. The average increase in the rate was 0.33 visits per month (p < 0.01) prior to October 2015, and 0.04 visits after. When S09.90 was included in the model, the monthly TBI rate in Colorado remained smooth from ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM and the transition was no longer significant (p = 0.97). Conclusion The reduction in the monthly TBI-related ED visit rate resulted from the CDC TBI surveillance definition excluding unspecified head injury, not necessarily the coding transition itself. Public health practitioners should be aware that the definition change could lead to a drastic reduction in the magnitude and trend of TBI-related ED visits, which could affect decisions regarding the allocation of TBI resources. This study highlights a challenge in creating a standardized set of TBI ICD-10-CM codes for public health surveillance that provides comparable yet clinically relevant estimates that span the ICD transition.

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