Predicting veteran health-related quality of life following mild traumatic brain injury.

PURPOSE/

OBJECTIVE

To examine health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) in Veterans with and without a history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and investigate correlates and predictors of HR-QOL within the mTBI sample. Research Method/

Design

Participants (N = 144) included 81 Veterans with a history of mTBI and 63 Veteran controls (VCs) without a history of mTBI. Primary outcomes of interest were the 8 subscales of the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36). Participants also completed questionnaires measuring combat exposure, depressive and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and neurobehavioral symptoms.

RESULTS

ANCOVAs adjusting for age found that, relative to VCs, the mTBI group demonstrated poorer HR-QOL across all SF-36 subscales (p's = ≤.001-.006; ηp² = .05-.21). After adjusting for age, combat exposure, and depressive and PTSD symptoms, the mTBI group endorsed poorer HR-QOL on the Physical Role Functioning, General Health, and Social Functioning subscales (p's = .011-.032; ηp² = .03-.05). Within the mTBI sample, employment status, lifetime number of mTBIs, depression, PTSD, and neurobehavioral symptoms collectively predicted all 8 SF-36 subscales (p's < .001), accounting for 29-65% of the total variance. Although depression and neurobehavioral symptoms tended to be the strongest predictors of HR-QOL, lifetime number of mTBIs and employment status were also important predictors of specific HR-QOL domains.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that, above and beyond depression, PTSD, and combat exposure, history of remote mTBI contributes to aspects of HR-QOL-particularly in perceptions of physical health and social functioning. Furthermore, different combinations of predictor variables are associated with different HR-QOL domains, highlighting the need for multimodal treatments within this vulnerable population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).