Racial/ethnic differences in combat- and non-combat-associated traumatic brain injury severity in the Veterans Health Administration: 2004-2010

C.E. Dismuke, M. Gebregziabher, D. Yeager and L.E. Egede

American Journal of Public Health, 2015, vol. 105, issue 8, 1696-1702

Abstract: Objectives. We examined the association between traumatic brain injury (TBI) severity and combat exposure by race/ethnicity. Methods. We estimated logit models of the fully adjusted association of combat exposure with TBI severity in separate race/ethnicity models for a national cohort of 132 995 veterans with TBI between 2004 and 2010. Results. Of veterans with TBI, 25.8% had served in a combat zone. Mild TBI increased from 11.5% to 40.3%, whereas moderate or severe TBI decreased from 88.5% to 59.7%. Moderate or severe TBI was higher in non-Hispanic Blacks (80.0%) and Hispanics (89.4%) than in non-Hispanic Whites (71.9%). In the fully adjusted all-race/ethnicity model, non-Hispanic Blacks (1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.37, 1.52) and Hispanics (1.47; 95% CI = 1.26, 1.72) had higher odds of moderate or severe TBI than did non-Hispanic Whites. However, combat exposure was associated with higher odds of mild TBI in non-Hispanic Blacks (2.48; 95% CI = 2.22, 2.76) and Hispanics (3.42; 95% CI = 1.84, 6.35) than in non-Hispanic Whites (2.17; 95% CI = 2.09, 2.26). Conclusions. Research is needed to understand racial differences in the effect of combat exposure on mild TBI and on interventions to prevent TBI across severity levels. © 2015, American Public Health Association Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: adolescent; adult; ancestry group; Brain Injuries; ethnic group; female; human; injury scale; male; middle aged; public hospital; statistics and numerical data; United States; veteran; warfare; young adult, Adolescent; Adult; Brain Injuries; Continental Population Groups; Ethnic Groups; Female; Hospitals, Veterans; Humans; Injury Severity Score; Male; Middle Aged; United States; Veterans; Warfare; Young Adult (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2014.302545_0

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302545

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