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ABOUT TRAUMATIC BRAIN 

INJURY

• TBI can result from a blow or jolt to the

head, such as from an explosion, or from 

an object penetrating the head. 

• TBI can cause changes in consciousness

that range from becoming confused to 

slipping into a coma. The person may also 

lose memory of the time immediately 

before or after the event.

• TBI symptoms can include headaches,

irritability, poor sleep, memory problems, 

slower thinking, and depression. These 

symptoms can persist long-term

• In one recent survey of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans, nearly 11 percent of women 

and 20 percent of men screened positive 

for TBI related to their deployment.

• Most military-related TBIs are considered

mild, but even these can involve long-term 

health effects that significantly impact 

quality of life. 

VA RESEARCH ON TRAUMATIC 

BRAIN INJURY: OVERVIEW

• Among the goals of VA researchers

working in this field are to shed light on 

brain changes resulting from TBIs, to 

improve the ways VA screens Veterans for 

the injury and diagnoses the condition, 

and to develop drugs to treat brain injury 

or limit its seriousness when it first occurs.

• VA researchers are designing better ways

to monitor how well treatments work, and 

developing new ways to support and educate family members of Veterans with TBI.

• VA’s Translational Research Center for TBI

and Stress Disorders in Boston studies the 

impact on Veterans of TBI and PTSD. 

• VA’s Brain Rehabilitation Resource Center

in Gainesville, Fla., develops and tests 

treatments to improve or restore motor, 

thinking, and emotional impairments 

caused by brain disease or injury.

• VA’s Traumatic Brain Injury Center of

Excellence in Houston focuses on mild TBI. 

• VA’s War Related Illness and Injury Study

Center develops and provides postdeployment health expertise to Veterans 

and their health care providers through 

clinical programs, research, education, and 

risk communication. 

• VA’s Polytrauma System of Care is a

network of specialized rehabilitation 

programs dedicated to serving Veterans 

and service members with TBI and 

multiple complex, severe injuries, called 

polytrauma. 

• The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury

Center (DVBIC) serves active-duty military, 

their beneficiaries, and Veterans with 

TBI through state of-the-art clinical care, 

innovative research and educational 

programs, and support for force health 

protection services.

SELECTED MILESTONES AND 

MAJOR EVENTS

2008 – VA sponsors an international 

conference on TBI and expands VA 

research in this area

2012 – VA researchers associate TBI with 

chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a 

degenerative disease 

2012 – VA begins a study to determine 

whether TBI and PTSD increase Alzheimer’s 

risk as Veterans age 

2013 – As part of the government’s 

National Research Action Plan, VA and DoD 

fund the establishment of new research 

consortia on TBI and PTSD

RECENT STUDIES: SELECTED 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Veterans exposed to blasts from

bombs, grenades, and other devices 

may still have brain damage even if they 

have no symptoms of TBI, according to a 

VA research on 

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

The Department of Defense estimates that 22 percent 

of all combat casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan are 

brain injuries. Traumatic brain injury is also a significant 

cause of disability outside of military settings.

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TBI symptoms can include 

headaches, irritability, poor sleep, 

memory problems, slower thinking, 

and depression. These symptoms 

can persist long-term.

study by researchers at VA’s Mid-Atlantic 

Mental Illness Research Education and 

Clinical Center (MIRECC) in Durham, 

N.C., and Duke University. The results 

of the study suggest that a lack of 

symptoms of TBI after a blast may not 

indicate the extent of brain damage 

caused by the blast. (Journal of Head 

Trauma Rehabilitation, March 4, 2014)

• TBI patients have a slightly 

increased rate of stroke compared to 

other patients. Investigators at the Ann 

Arbor VA Medical Center hypothesize 

that because TBI can cause bleeding 

in the brain, it may increase the risk for 

stroke. (Neurology, July 2, 2013)

• Older Veterans with a TBI diagnosis 

have a 60-percent greater risk of 

developing dementia over a nine-year 

period than other older Veterans. The 

results of this study by investigators 

with VA and the University of California, 

San Francisco, raise concern about the 

potential long-term consequences of 

TBI. (Neurology, July 22, 2014)

• Whether TBI and PTSD increase 

Alzheimer’s risk as Veterans age is 

the subject of an ongoing study. The 

study, called DOD-ADNI, is funded by 

the Department of Defense (DoD). Its 

lead investigator is Dr. Michael Weiner, 

a VA investigator in San Francisco 

who heads the Alzheimer’s Disease 

Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). 

(Clinicaltrials.gov)

• In contrast to more severe TBI, mild 

TBI is difficult to identify and treat. 

Despite being called mild, up to 20 

percent of those with this injury will 

suffer from post-concussion syndrome, 

a complicated mix of troublesome 

symptoms and problems. The Defense 

and Veterans Brain Injury Center has 

developed a structured interview 

doctors can use to better identify mild 

TBI in patients. (Journal of Neurotrauma, 

Sept. 29, 2014, epub ahead of print)

• An artificial communication link 

inserted in the brain can restore 

functions lost as a result of TBI, 

according to a team of researchers from 

the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center in 

Cleveland, the University of Kansas, 

and Case Western University. The team 

fitted a tiny device containing a chip 

into the brains of rats whose motor skills 

had been impaired as a result of TBI. 

The device allowed the rats to recover 

nearly all the function they had lost. 

(Proceedings of the National Academy of 

Sciences of the United States of America,

Dec. 24, 2013)

• Treating Veterans and family members in a group to learn about mild 

TBI, to solve problems, and to establish 

life goals was found to be highly acceptable to group members in a study by 

investigators from the Durham (N.C.) VA 

Medical Center. The therapy shows both 

Veterans and their family members that 

they are not alone, and helps integrate 

the family into patient care. (Psychiatric 

Services, June 2013)

For more information on VA studies 

on traumatic brain injury and other 

key topics relating to Veterans’ 

health, please visit 

www.research.va.gov/topics

TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

Updated September 2016 • For a digital version of this fact sheet with active links to sources, visit www.research.va.gov/topics