Jolie Haun, Justin T. McDaniel, Risa Nakase-Richardson, Tali Schneider, Julie McMahon-Grenz, Rachel C Benzinger, Sharon Barton, Roberto Sandoval, Karen M. Skop, Clara E. Dismuke‐Greer, Jerome Sabangan, Kimberly Samson, Daniel W. Klyce, Yvonne Friedman, Leah R. Gause, Shannon R. Miles, Linda M. Picon, Rachel M. Lackow, Mary Jo Pugh
OBJECTIVE: We sought to examine changes in mild-to-moderate TBI-related symptoms among service members and veterans (SM/Vs) following participation in a 5-site inpatient rehabilitation program with the US Department of Veterans Affairs between 7/1/2022 and 5/30/2024. METHODS: Neurobehavioral outcomes, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, pain interference, and lifestyle behaviors related to brain injury were assessed at baseline, discharge, and a 6-month follow-up. Mixed effects linear regression models, adjusting for key patient characteristics, were estimated to determine changes in TBI-related outcomes across the 3 time points. RESULTS: Mean participant age, for those with complete data (n = 127), was 41.64 years (SD = 5.57), with a mean of 7.45 deployments (SD = 3.12) and 16.32 concussive events (SD = 7.21). Participants were predominantly White (73.23%) Special Operations personnel (82.68%). TBI-related outcomes, including neurobehavioral symptoms, pain interference, PTSD, and brain injury adaptability, decreased significantly from baseline to discharge (b = -14.36, SE = 1.03; b = -3.79, SE = 0.49; b = -11.14, SE = 1.27; b = -2.41, SE = 0.41), with Cohen's d effect sizes of 1.14, 0.71, 0.69, and 0.56, respectively. Six-month follow-up, TBI-related outcomes remained statistically and practically below baseline levels in all measures except adaptability. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Findings illustrate an interdisciplinary, inpatient rehabilitation program for mild-to-moderate TBI yields significant improvements in TBI-related symptoms that are common among SM/Vs and are sustained at 6 months postdischarge.