Associations Between Traumatic Brain Injury History and Future Headache Severity in Veterans: A Longitudinal Study.
Arch Phys Med Rehabil
; 98(11): 2118-2125.e1, 2017 11.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28483652
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To determine whether traumatic brain injury (TBI) history is associated with worse headache severity outcomes.DESIGN:
Prospective cohort study.SETTING:
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) outpatient clinics.PARTICIPANTS:
Veterans (N=2566) who completed a mail follow-up survey an average of 3 years after a comprehensive TBI evaluation (CTBIE).INTERVENTIONS:
Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOMEMEASURES:
The presence or absence of TBI, and TBI severity were evaluated by a trained clinician and classified according to VA/Department of Defense clinical practice guidelines. Headache severity was evaluated at both the baseline CTBIE assessment and 3-year follow-up using a 5-level headache score ranging from 0 ("none") to 4 ("very severe") based on headache-associated activity interference in the past 30 days. We examined associations of mild and moderate/severe TBI history, as compared to no TBI history, with headache severity in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, with and without adjustment for potential confounders.RESULTS:
Mean headache severity scores were 2.4 at baseline and 2.3 at 3-year follow-up. Mild TBI was associated with greater headache severity in multivariate-adjusted cross-sectional analyses (ß [SE]=.61 [.07], P<.001), as compared with no TBI, but not in longitudinal analyses (ß [SE]=.09 [.07], P=.20). Moderate/severe TBI was significantly associated with greater headache severity in both cross-sectional (ß [SE]=.66 [.09], P<.001) and longitudinal analyses (ß [SE]=.18 [.09], P=.04).CONCLUSIONS:
Headache outcomes are poor in veterans who receive VA TBI evaluations, irrespective of past TBI exposure, but significantly worse in those with a history of moderate/severe TBI. No association was found between mild TBI and future headache severity in veterans. Veterans with headache presenting for TBI evaluations, and particularly those with moderate/severe TBI, may benefit from further evaluation and treatment of headache.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Veterans
/
Brain Injuries, Traumatic
/
Headache
Type of study:
Guideline
/
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
Arch Phys Med Rehabil
Year:
2017
Type:
Article