Findings of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Combat Veterans With PTSD and a History of Blast Concussion

Veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder were evaluated for a history of blast concussion, controlling for confounding conditions. Electroencephalograms were analyzed by discriminant function for traumatic brain injury. A difference was found in discriminant scores between veterans with and without blast concussion. More members of the blast group had attentional symptoms and attentional dysfunction. Combat veterans with a remote history of blast injury have persistent electroencephalographic features of traumatic brain injury as well as attentional problems. The authors hypothesize that these constitute a type of chronic postconcussive syndrome that has cognitive and mood symptoms overlapping those of posttraumatic stress disorder.