title: Military Deployment May Increase the Risk for Traumatic Brain Injury Following Deployment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare rates of traumatic brain injury (TBI) diagnosis before and after overseas military deployment.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a retrospective examination of a cohort of 119 353 active duty US military service members (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines) whose first lifetime overseas deployment began at any time between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2011, and lasted at least for 30 days. For this cohort, TBI diagnoses were examined during the 76 weeks prior to deployment, during deployment, and 76 weeks following the end of deployment.
  
  
  METHODS
  4-week rates of TBI diagnosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The risk of being diagnosed with TBI within 4 weeks after returning from deployment was 8.4 times higher than the average risk before deployment. The risk gradually decreased thereafter up to 40 weeks postdeployment. However, during the 41 to 76 weeks following deployment, risk stabilized but remained on average 1.7 times higher than before deployment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  An increased rate of TBI diagnosis following deployment was identified, which may be partly due to delayed diagnosis of TBIs that occurred while service members were deployed. Also, the increased rate may partly be due to riskier behaviors of service members following deployment that results in an increased occurrence of TBIs.
authors.affiliation: Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Silver Spring, Maryland (Drs Regasa, Thomas, and Marion, LCDR Gill, and Mr Ivins); Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey (Dr Regasa); General Dynamics Information Technology, Fairfax, Virginia (Drs Regasa and Marion and Mr Ivins); University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health (Dr Thomas); Creative Computing Solutions, Inc, Rockville, Maryland (Dr Thomas); and United States Public Health Service, Washington, District of Columbia (LCDR Gill).
authors.forename: Lemma Ebssa
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Regasa
authors.forename: D Michael
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Ranjodh S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: Donald W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Marion
authors.forename: Brian J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Ivins
mesh_terms: D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D008889:Military Personnel; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014195:Travel; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology