Many veterans of the United States armed forces who suffer from traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder also have undiagnosed chronic vision problems. This report is according to the two studies presented at the 116th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, jointly conducted this year with the Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology.
New Recognition of What Traumatic Brain Injury Can Mean for Veterans'' Vision
In a study conducted at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in Washington, D.C., researchers found that vision problems in veterans with mild TBI are much more common and persistent than previously recognized, with 67 percent of the 31 patients studied reporting chronic vision disorders. Though none of the affected veterans had suffered direct eye wounds, their vision continued to be impaired more than a year after they endured the injuries that caused their TBI.
The vision problems most frequently reported by the veterans in the study were convergence, which is the ability to focus both eyes simultaneously in order to read or see other nearby objects, and sensitivity to light. Veterans'' ability to readjust their focus when moving their gaze between far and near objects, known as accommodation, was also reduced. Other complaints included double vision and floaters," which are spots or spidery shapes that seem to move across the visual field. Full recovery of visual function took five years or more in many of the veterans, which is much longer than is typically seen in sports concussions and other non-blast-related TBI.
Blast-related TBI is the most frequent injury of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. From 2000-12, the Department of Defense reported 194,561 cases of mild TBI, or about 76 percent of all TBI injuries.
"Physicians who care for veterans with TBI need to know that many of them have vision problems," said M. Teresa Magone, M.D., staff ophthalmologist with the Washington, D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center, who led the study. "It is critical that these patients receive vision assessment and when appropriate, be referred to ophthalmologists to make sure they get the eye care they need, for as long as they need it."
Eye Disorder Common in Seniors Strikes Sooner in Veterans with PTSD
Another study of war veterans, conducted at the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute at the University of Miami, found that veterans who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression are much more likely to develop dry eye syndrome than veterans who do not have these psychological diagnoses. In their review of more than two million veterans'' medical records, the research team found that about 20 percent of those diagnosed with PTSD or depression have dry eye syndrome, a disorder that disrupts the tear glands'' normal ability to keep the eyes moist.
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The average age of the veterans with dry eye in this VAMC study is younger than is typical for dry eye patients in the civilian population. It was unclear from the study whether the veterans'' dry eye was directly caused by PTSD or depression, or the medications given for these conditions, or perhaps a combination of factors was to blame. Estimates of the prevalence of PTSD in all U.S. veterans range from two to 17 percent.
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Dr. Galor''s study was supported by a Veterans Administration grant.
Source-Newswise