title: Health Outcomes of Traumatic Brain Injury Among Refugee Survivors of Torture.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare spontaneous reporting of health complaints in a sample of refugee survivors of torture with a history of moderate/severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) with survivors of torture without TBI and analyze the contribution of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms to health outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Treatment-seeking refugee survivors of torture with a moderate/severe TBI (n = 85) and a control group (n = 72) of survivors who suffered a physical injury during their persecution but had no history of a head injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  Health outcomes included a self-report of general physical health (scale 1-5), number of medical visits, and a scaled score of the number of health complaints. The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ) was used to measure posttraumatic stress disorder.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Moderate/severe TBI was associated with more health complaints but not higher HTQ scores. TBI and HTQ scores are independently associated with a greater number of health complaints, and an interaction between TBI and HTQ scores suggests that the relationship between moderate/severe TBI and the number of health complaints strengthened with increased posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health complaints may be a common expression of psychological trauma, and service providers should be certain to explore both medical and psychological contributors when assessing refugee survivors of torture.
authors: Clinical Neuropsychology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada (Ms Keatley and Dr Abeare); and New York University School of Medicine, New York City (Ms d'Alfonso and Drs Keller and Bertelsen).
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Keatley
authors: Alana
authors: A
authors: dʼAlfonso
authors: Christopher
authors: C
authors: Abeare
authors: Allen
authors: A
authors: Keller
authors: Nathan S
authors: NS
authors: Bertelsen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009864:Ontario; D011788:Quality of Life; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018570:Risk Assessment; D057566:Self Report; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D017741:Survivors; D014104:Torture / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult