Article

OBJECTIVE: To describe the early results of the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) screening program for traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to identify
patient and facility characteristics associated with receiving a TBI screen and
results of the screening. DESIGN: National retrospective cohort study. SETTING:
VA Medical facilities. PATIENTS: A total of 170,681 Operation Enduring Freedom
and/or Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Veterans who sought care at VA medical
facilities from April 2007 to September 30, 2008. METHODS: Data were abstracted
from VA administrative and operational databases, including patient demographics,
facility characteristics, and outcomes. MAIN OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: The main
outcomes were receipt of and results of the TBI screen. RESULTS: The majority of
veterans eligible received the TBI screen (91.6%). Screening rates varied by
patient and facility characteristics. In all, 25% of screened veterans had
probable TBI exposure, in which the majority of the exposures were blasts
(85.0%). The rate of a positive TBI screen was 20.5% for the screened cohort.
Male gender, service in the army, multiple deployments, and mental health
diagnoses in the previous year were associated with a positive screen.
CONCLUSIONS: TBI screening rates are high in VA; concomitant mental health
diagnoses were highly prevalent in individuals with positive TBI screens. These
data indicate that there will be a significant need for long-term health care
services for veterans with TBI symptomatology.
CI - Copyright (c) 2013 American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Langue : ANGLAIS