Sensory sensitivity and posttraumatic stress disorder in blast exposed veterans with mild traumatic brain injury

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the unique contribution of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms on sensory sensitivity following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in an Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Veteran sample. We hypothesized that the effect of PTSD on noise and light sensitivity following mTBI would be largely driven by PTSD-related hyperarousal symptoms. We compared the relationships between PTSD, noise sensitivity, and light sensitivity of 49 OEF/OIF Veterans with mTBI to that of 23 OEF/OIF Veterans without mTBI. Results suggest that intrusive experiences were significantly related to noise sensitivity in the mTBI group, while light sensitivity was significantly associated with avoidance. Hyperarousal symptoms significantly accounted for noise sensitivity in the no-blast, non-TBI group, whereas PTSD did not affect light sensitivity in this group. These data suggest that PTSD symptoms may uniquely influence the experience of noise and light sensitivity. As such, treatment targeting specific PTSD symptoms may yield clinically significant improvement in sensory sensitivity.

KEYWORDS:

• Blast exposure
• concussion
• light sensitivity
• noise sensitivity
• posttraumatic stress
• traumatic brain injury

Acknowledgments

This material is the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Portland, Oregon. The contents do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government. All authors declare no conflicts of interests involved in the research presented in the manuscript. The corresponding author (M.C.) declares she had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by VA Merit Review Award #B5060R to D. Storzbach from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, Rehabilitation Research and Development.