Traumatic Brain Injury and Veteran Mortality After the War in Afghanistan
Mark A. Reger, Lisa A. Brenner, Alta du Pont
Abstract
On August 30, 2021, the last US military service members left Afghanistan, marking the end of America's longest war.It is important to continue to examine the impact of the war on service members, veterans, family members, clinicians, and health care systems.Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are often described as one of the signature injuries of the war.Estimates of TBI among service members who have returned from military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan vary moderately, which highlights the critical importance of TBI definitions and methods to ascertain TBI exposure.Estimates suggest that between 9% and 28% of service members experienced a TBI. 1 Complicating matters further, many veterans experienced 1 or more TBIs before their military service, thereby suggesting that military-related injuries may be neither the first nor the worst lifetime injury sustained.