Clinical research findings from the long-term impact of military-relevant brain injury consortium-Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (LIMBIC-CENC) 2013-2021

ABSTRACT

This is a summary of the published research from the 14 observational, longitudinal and big-data, epidemiological studies supported by the LIMBIC-CENC program from 2013–2021 examining the long-term effects of combat-related traumatic brain injury (TBI). Findings from these 43 primary and secondary analyses include: 1) unique fluid, advanced neuroimaging and electrophysiologic biomarkers associated with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), number of mTBIs and related dysfunction, 2) increases in a range of chronic difficulties, including neurosensory, sleep, pain, cognitive deficits, behavioral disorders, overall symptom burden, healthcare costs and service-connected disability, associated with mTBI, all-severity traumatic brain injury (TBI), blast exposure, and number of mTBIs, and 3) increases in the risk for suicide and neurodegeneration, including dementia and Parkinson’s disease, associated with mTBI and all-severity TBI. Ongoing LIMBIC-CENC longitudinal and epidemiologic research will clarify, confirm and expand upon these findings.

KEYWORDS:

• Concussion
• military
• veteran
• consortium
• long-term effects

Acknowledgments

This material was supported by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs endorsed by the Department of Defense, through the Psychological Health/Traumatic Brain Injury Research Program under Award No. W81XWH1920067 and the Department of Veterans Affairs under Award No. I01 CX002097. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense or the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology [W81XWH-18-PH/TBIRP-LIMBIC].