Psyche, Science, and Society

Eighteen percent of returning soldiers have traumatic brain injury

April 12th, 2007

A new study reports that 18% of troops returned to Fort Carson from Iraq suffered traumatic brain injury:

Nearly two in 10 soldiers who have returned to Fort Carson from Iraq in the past two years have suffered a traumatic brain injury, according to an ongoing study by medical experts at the base.

Since June 2005, 13,400 soldiers in three brigades have been screened for TBI. Fort Carson has found that 178 of every 1,000 soldiers screened had a traumatic brain injury.

Most of those cases are considered relatively mild, caused by sudden acceleration or deceleration of the head from events such as a blast or car crash, and soldiers are cleared to return to duty. But 13 percent of those diagnosed with TBI - or about 300 soldiers - were deemed “non deployable” for future missions.

It is unknown how many soldiers suffered a traumatic brain injury before 2005. An estimated 2 million Americans suffer a form of TBI each year, most the result of accidents, according to a study published in Psychiatric Times.

“A majority of patients that return to us will have symptoms of either headache, memory loss, irritability, difficulty sleeping, and those symptoms change from when the inciting event occurs to when the soldier returns,” said Dr. John Cho, commander of Fort Carson’s Evans Army Community Hospital.

TBI is considered the “signature wound” of the Iraq war. Better body armor and Kevlar have kept alive soldiers who might have died in earlier wars. But exposure to multiple blasts and rattling of the brain inside the skull have caused the hidden injuries.

Like the Iraqi people, our soldiers will be paying for this misguided war with their health for decades.

Entry Filed under: Iraq, Psychology, Public Health