Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Subsequent Musculoskeletal Injury in US Service Members.
Mild traumatic brain injury linked to more than double the risk of later musculoskeletal injury
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Subsequent Musculoskeletal Injury in US Service Members.
IMPORTANCE: Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is associated with greater risk of musculoskeletal injury (musculoskeletal injury).
To test the association of mTBI with subsequent musculoskeletal injury in a large study population of service members with extended follow-up.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study included service members with mTBI and propensity score-matched controls who joined between 2016 and 2020 across all branches of the US military and had medical record data until 2023.
mTBI more than doubled the risk of later musculoskeletal injury
The mean (SD) age of the 26 784 participants (13 392 with mTBI and 13 392 controls without mTBI) was 20.0 (2.8) years, and 4585 (17.1%) were female.
During 34 156 person-years of follow-up, there were 14 330 musculoskeletal injury events.
On the absolute scale, mTBI, compared with no mTBI, was associated with an additional 258 musculoskeletal injury events per 100 000 person-days (Aalen additive hazard = 2.58 × 10-3; SE, 1.17 × 10-6).
In this cohort study of US service members, mTBI was associated with greater hazard of subsequent musculoskeletal injury on the relative and absolute scales.
Female service members had a greater hazard of musculoskeletal injury, but there was no significant moderation by sex for associations between mTBI and musculoskeletal injury.
Findings can inform patient counseling on musculoskeletal injury risk following mTBI.