Article

With the use of Veterans Health Administration and Department of Defense
databases of veterans who completed a Department of Veterans Affairs
comprehensive traumatic brain injury (TBI) evaluation, the objectives of this study were to (1) identify the co-occurrence of self-reported auditory, visual,
and vestibular impairment, referred to as multisensory impairment (MSI), and (2)
examine demographic, deployment-related, and mental health characteristics that
were potentially predictive of MSI. Our sample included 13,746 veterans with
either a history of deployment-related mild TBI (mTBI) (n = 9,998) or no history
of TBI (n = 3,748). The percentage of MSI across the sample was 13.9%, but was
17.4% in a subsample with mTBI history that experienced both nonblast and blast
injuries. The factors that were significantly predictive of reporting MSI were
older age, being female, lower rank, and etiology of injury. Deployment-related
mTBI history, posttraumatic stress disorder, and depression were also
significantly predictive of reporting MSI, with mTBI history the most robust
after adjusting for these conditions. A better comprehension of impairments
incurred by deployed servicemembers is needed to fully understand the spectrum of
blast and nonblast dysfunction and may allow for more targeted interventions to be developed to address these issues.

Langue : ANGLAIS