Key result
Negative mood states, not sleepiness, are linked to lower neurocognitive performance, explaining ~18% of variance.
Why the study?
There were limited data on the impact of deployment on neurocognitive functioning, sleepiness, and mood in healthy, non-concussed Service members.
Cross-Sectional (n=72)
p-value: p=0.005
Negative mood states, but not sleepiness, are significant predictors of lower neurocognitive performance in deployed military personnel, highlighting the need to consider mood during post-concussion return-to-duty evaluations.
Negative mood states warrant consideration in military neurocognitive evaluations; hypothesis-generating and should not yet change practice.
Neurocognitive computerized assessment tools (NCATs) were developed to assist military clinicians with the tracking of recovery from injury and return to full duty decisions with a recent focus on the setting of post-concussion evaluations. However, there is limited data on the impact of deployment on neurocognitive functioning, sleepiness, and mood in healthy, non-concussed Service members. Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics version 4 TBI Military (ANAM) data was obtained for a sample of active duty deployed personnel (n=72) without recent history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). A linear regression was conducted to examine the effects of sleepiness and mood state on neurocognitive performance. The overall multivariate regression was statistically significant. Negative mood states were the most salient predictors of neurocognitive performance with higher levels of endorsement associated with lower scores. The findings support measures of negative mood state, but not sleepiness, as relevant predictors of neurocognitive performance as measured by the ANAM. These results indicate that mood needs to be considered when reviewing neurocognitive data to ensure that appropriate clinical decisions are made; in particular for return-to-duty decisions in deployed settings after concussion recovery.
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Haran et al. (2019) conducted a cross-sectional in Healthy, non-concussed military personnel (n=72). Sleepiness and mood state was evaluated on Neurocognitive performance (Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics composite score) (p=0.005). Negative mood states, but not sleepiness, were significant predictors of lower neurocognitive performance in deployed military personnel, accounting for approximately 18% of the variance in composite scores.
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