Nearly half of U.S. soldiers returning from combat who receive specialized care for headaches have a history of mild head trauma, according to a study by two researchers from Madigan Army Medical Center, Tacoma, Washington.

Drs. Brett J. Theeler and Jay C. Erickson studied 81 soldiers from the same brigade who were assessed for recurrent headache after a 1-year combat tour.

Thirty-three soldiers (41 percent) reported suffering mild trauma to the head or neck during deployment, mostly due to a bomb blast. 

Of the 33 soldiers with head or neck injury, 12 (36 percent) began having headaches within 1 week of their trauma. Worsening of pre-existing headaches following trauma was reported by another 12 soldiers (36 percent).

Overall, 78 percent of headaches in soldiers with head or neck trauma were classified as migraines, and 15 percent were classified as tension-type headaches.

Overall, 18 soldiers had concussion without loss of consciousness and 15 had concussion with loss of consciousness. Ten of the soldiers also reported an accompanying neck injury. However, none of the soldiers had experienced a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury.

“Head and neck trauma is common in U.S. soldiers deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan,” Theeler and Erickson note in the journal Headache.

The current study, they add, shows that headache is also a frequent symptom among returning soldiers who sustained mild head injury while deployed.

SOURCE: Headache, April 2009.