Veterans’ Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Can Cause Long-Term Problems

A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is considered mild if the initial loss of consciousness or disorientation that the injury produced lasted less than 30 minutes. Many people think that severe traumatic brain injuries cause long-lasting effects, while mild traumatic brain injuries cause only temporary effects. Researchers, however, are starting to find that even mild TBI can cause chronic problems.

A recent study found that veterans with mild traumatic brain injuries had hormone deficiencies that produced long-lasting effects.

The study, conducted by researchers at Seattle’s Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, evaluated a group of veterans who had sustained mild traumatic brain injuries that had been caused by blasts. The study was undertaken because the researchers found that there was little data available about brain injuries and hormone deficiencies that related specifically to military veterans.

The study found that 12 out of 27 of the veterans in the study with mild TBI had hormonal deficiencies, compared to only 1 out of 14 of the veterans in the study’s control group, who did not have TBI. The most common hormone deficiency was of growth hormone. Other deficiencies found were secondary adrenal deficiency and hypogonadism.

The researchers concluded that this showed that even mild TBIs can cause physiological changes that result in long-term chronic illness.

Traumatic Brain Injury – Veterans

At Veterans Law Group, we only handle cases for veterans who are seeking maximum benefits for their disability claims. If you or a loved one are impaired because of a service-related traumatic brain injury, please contact us for assistance.