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U of U Health Participates in $50M Study of Traumatic Brain Injuries in Military Personnel

University of Utah Health has joined a national research consortium of universities, hospitals and clinics that has received $50 million to study the long-term impacts of mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) or concussions on service members and veterans. The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are funding the grant, which will bring together universities, Veterans Health Administration hospitals and the military to study the impact of combat concussions.

The Long-term Impact of Military-relevant Brain Injury Consortium (LIMBIC) will study the ongoing health impacts of combat concussions, such as those from blasts, bullets, hand-to-hand fighting, as well as vehicle accidents, sports injuries and falls. The principal investigator on the grant is Mary Jo Pugh, Ph.D., professor at University of Utah School of Medicine.

Another aspect of the study utilizes the Data and Biostatistics Core, which is charged with curating data from eight VA and military sites across the country and providing biostatistics support to reveal the impact of combat concussion on long-term health outcomes.

This new $50 million LIMBIC award will allow researchers to expand the work of the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (CENC), which included 30 universities, 15 VA hospitals and 12 military treatment facilities.

The award will extend analyses of big data from the more than two million veterans and service personnel with a range of linked electronic medical and administrative records. The study aims to increase the enrollment to more than 3,000 veterans and service members with multiple combat concussions whose recovery is being systematically monitored for life.

U of U Health has been awarded $4,176,369 in direct costs for 5 years.