VA says 6 percent of combat vets have traumatic brain injuries

VA says 6 percent of combat vets have TBIs



By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Nov 2, 2007 13:29:25 EDT



About 6 percent of Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans seeking treatment at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries, according to preliminary data released Friday.

A VA mandatory screening program that took effect in April has looked at 61,285 veterans of the wars. Of those, 19.2 percent were identified on the screening questionnaire as potentially suffering from traumatic brain injuries and were referred for more tests.

The additional tests resulted in about 3,600 veterans — 5.8 percent of all of those screened —being diagnosed with moderate to severe cases of combat-related brain injuries, said VA spokeswoman Alison Aikele.
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