Symptom Reporting Patterns of US Military Service Members with a History of Concussion According to Duty Status.

Objective: To compare symptom reporting patterns of service members with a history of concussion based on work status: full duty, limited duty, or in the Medical Evaluation Board (MEB)/disability process.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of 181 service members with a history of concussion (MEB n = 56; limited duty n = 62; full duty n = 63). Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) Validity-10 cutoff (>22) and Mild Brain Injury Atypical Symptoms Scale (mBIAS) cutoffs (≥10 and ≥8) were used to evaluate potential over-reporting of symptoms.

Results: The MEB group displayed significantly higher NSI scores and significantly higher proportion scored above the mBIAS ≥10 cutoff (MEB = 15%; limited duty = 3%; full duty = 5%). Validity-10 cutoff did not distinguish between groups.

Conclusions: MEB but not limited duty status was associated with increased risk of over-reporting symptoms in service members with a history of concussion. Results support the use of screening measures for over-reporting in the MEB/disability samples.