Table 1.
Basic Demographics of the Study Population
| Control n = 52 | mTBI n = 21 | PTSD n = 34 | mTBI+PTSD n = 13 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| APOE E4 | - | + | - | + | - | + | - | + | |
| Numbers | n = 37 | n = 15 | n = 16 | n = 5 | n = 24 | n = 10 | n = 8 | n = 5 | |
| Age (mean ± SD) | 27 ± 7 | 27 ± 8 | 25 ± 4 | 30 ± 11 | 28 ± 8 | 23 ± 4 | 30 ± 7 | 29 ± 4 | |
| Education (mean ± SD) | 13 ± 1 | 13 ± 1 | 13 ± 1 | 13 ± 2 | 13 ± 1 | 13 ± 1 | 14 ± 2 | 14 ± 1 | |
| Race (n) | Black | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| White | 29 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 18 | 7 | 7 | 3 | |
| Pacific Islander | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| Hispanic/Latino | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Native American | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Asian | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Other | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| First deployment (Yes) | 11 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| TBI and PTSD | No reported TBI events | 35 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Knockout without concussion | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Concussion with LOC | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 4 | |
| Reported brain damage in prior year (Yes) | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 4 | |
| Diagnosed with PTSD ever in life (Yes) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 10 | 8 | 5 | |
| Total number of deployments | 0 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| 2+ | 11 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 4 | |
| Medication use (n) | None | 33 | 14 | 15 | 5 | 14 | 10 | 5 | 4 |
| Anti-depressants | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Anti-inflammatories | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Analgesics | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Sedatives & hypnotics | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Anti-bacterial | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Cardiovascular medications | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Gastrointestinal agents | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Allergy medication | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Headaches/migraines | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| NSI (mean ± SD) | 5 ± 7 | 7 ± 7 | 13 ± 14 | 10 ± 6 | 30 ± 15 | 24 ± 15 | 26 ± 21 | 25 ± 12 | |
| ZAS (mean ± SD) | 30 ± 5 | 29 ± 6 | 33 ± 11 | 31 ± 4 | 38 ± 10 | 37 ± 9 | 36 ± 8 | 31 ± 8 | |
| PSS (mean ± SD) | 28 ± 13 | 27 ± 15 | 28 ± 13 | 26 ± 11 | 29 ± 8 | 29 ± 8 | 28 ± 9 | 32 ± 4 | |
Statistics: Kruskal-Wallis with B-H correction or Chi-square as appropriate. Bolded numbers indicate significant differences between groups against their respective controls. For medication use, 5 participants on multiple medications. Abbreviations; mTBI: mild traumatic brain injury, PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder; NSI, Neurobehavioral Symptoms Inventory; ZAS, Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale; PSS: Perceived Stress Scale.