Long-term study of thinking and blood vessel health after traumatic brain injury in service members and veterans

You may qualify if

• Active duty uniformed SM or Veteran who is currently eligible for treatment at WRNMMC (i.e., Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS)-eligible).
• Ability to read, write, and speak English.
• Ability to provide informed consent.
• NICoE Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) or NatHx Study comprehensive evaluation ≥3 years prior to current evaluation with valid neuropsychological test results.
• Consent to allow access to prior research data collected through the NICoE TBI Neuroimaging Core Project or NatHx Study and consent to allow access to at least 1 prior blood specimen previously collected through these studies or the DoD Serum Biorepository.

You may qualify if

• History of at least one mild, moderate, severe, or penetrating TBI > 3 years prior to enrollment. TBI will be diagnosed if any one of the following criteria immediately after the injury is met and attributed to the brain injury, rather than environmental/psychological/other injury factors (DoD-VA criteria246):
• Loss of consciousness (LOC) or post-traumatic amnesia (PTA)
• Alteration of consciousness (AOC)
• Evidence of neurologic dysfunction
• TBI-related abnormality on structural neuroimaging (either CT or MRI). Additional Healthy Control Criteria; History of military deployment.; Low history of blast exposure (i.e., <10 blasts) Additional Blast Control Criteria; History of significant blast exposure (i.e., exposure to ≥ 10 blasts)

You can't join if

• Disabling neurologic or psychological disorders such as autism, cerebral palsy, developmental disorder, stroke, brain tumor, multiple sclerosis, meningitis, encephalitis, brain abscess, vascular malformation, pre-injury epilepsy, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorder
• Diabetes mellitus requiring drug treatment
• Hypertension requiring more than 1 antihypertensive drug to control BP
• History of myocardial infarction or other systemic vasculopathies
• Dementia diagnosis at initial NICoE/NatHx Study assessment