Phenotypes of Comorbidity in Epilepsy: Variation by TBI Severity and Deployment Status

Abstract

The proposed study will leverage data from an existing Department of Defense (DoD) funded Post-traumatic epilepsy study(W81XWH-16-2-0046) that is examining the relationship between mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and epilepsy in deployed Post-9/11 Veterans. We will add to that study by identifying patterns of comorbidity in Post-9/11 deployed Veterans with epilepsy using latent class analysis, and by adding a cohort of non-deployed Post-9/11 Veterans who are also in VA care for the same analysis. As a result, with a small investment we will be able to identify specific phenotypes of comorbidity in Veterans with epilepsy and be able to determine if those patterns are different for individuals who 1) were deployed, where the likelihood of blast exposure is higher, and 2) have TBI exposure compared to those who do not. Finally, we will examine the extent to which these comorbidity phenotypes help explain premature death, and the specific cause of death in these individuals with epilepsy. These findings will have enormous implications for health care delivery for Veterans and Active Duty Service Members with epilepsy. For instance, the data may suggest that chronic disease is an important cause of death. This finding would suggest the importance of care coordination between primary care providers and neurologists/epileptologists providing subspecialty care for patients with epilepsy. In addition, data from this study can be used as a foundation to identify genetic markers that are associated with distinct epilepsy comorbidity phenotypes. We have compiled VA and DoD data for the deployed and non-deployed cohort. We have developed an epilepsy identification algorithm and we will perform chart abstraction to evaluate the algorithm.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2020
Accession Number
AD1120913

Entities

People

  • Mary J. Pugh

Organizations

  • Western Institute For Biomedical Research

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Biomedical Research
  • Brain Injuries
  • Cerebrovascular Disorders
  • Chronic Diseases
  • Delivery Of Health Care
  • Department Of Defense
  • Disease Attributes
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Drug Abuse
  • Epilepsy
  • Health
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Medical Personnel
  • Mental Health
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Science
  • Neurodegeneration
  • Pain
  • Seizures
  • Social Media
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

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  • Mental Health of Military Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Risk Factors, Prevalence, Symptoms, and Treatment.
  • Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Cognitive Aging in the Guam and Border Populations Affected by Alzheimer's Disease and Tau-Associated Dementias.

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology