Shockwaves shake up returning soldiers

Troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq are bringing home a new kind of injury.

Improved training for combat paramedics and the availability of Kevlar body armor mean that just 1 in 16 wounded U.S. soldiers now dies from their injuries, compared with 1 in 3 during the Vietnam war.

But the soldiers surviving attacks often have unfamiliar wounds, such as loss of consciousness or memory caused by the shock waves from massive roadside bombs. Since little is known about the long-term effects of such concussions, the U.S. government has started screening returning soldiers for "mild traumatic brain injury."

Of 2,525 recent Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, 15 percent reported such an injury, says Charles W. Hoge of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Soldiers who had become dazed as the result of a blast were nearly twice as likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as soldiers with other injuries, while those who had blacked out during combat were nearly four times as likely to suffer major depression and three times as likely to have PTSD.

These soldiers also reported poor overall health and disorders ranging from gut upsets to memory loss, although the survey suggests that these were themselves mostly the result of depression or PTSD, says Hoge.

What the Army should do about these injuries is unclear. Hoge fears that medical screening may do more harm than good by convincing soldiers that their symptoms are physical and permanent, not psychological and treatable.