NSI and PCL-5 Normative Tables for Active Duty Service Members Affected by Traumatic Brain Injury.

INTRODUCTION: Many service members (SMs) have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. Currently, military treatment facilities do not have access to established normative tables which can assist clinicians in gauging and comparing patient-reported symptoms. The aim of this study is to provide average scores for both the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) for active duty SMs based upon varying demographic groups. METHODS: Average scores were calculated for both the NSI and PCL-5 surveys from SMs who attended a military outpatient traumatic brain injury clinic. For this analysis, only the initial surveys for each SM were considered. The identifying demographics included age group, gender, grade, and race. RESULTS: Four normative tables were created to show the average scores of both the NSI and PCL-5 surveys grouped by demographics. The tables are grouped by Age Group/Gender/Race and Grade/Gender/Race. CONCLUSION: Clinicians and healthcare administrators can use the scores reported in this study to determine where SM NSI or PCL-5 scores fall within the average for their demographic group.

Correlations Between the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory and Other Commonly Used Questionnaires for Traumatic Brain Injury.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the correlations between the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI) and other questionnaires commonly administered within military traumatic brain injury clinics. SETTING: Military outpatient traumatic brain injury clinics. PARTICIPANTS: In total, 15,428 active duty service members who completed 24,162 NSI questionnaires between March 2009 and May 2020. DESIGN: Observational retrospective analysis of questionnaires collected as part of standard clinical care. MAIN MEASURES: NSI, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 and Military Version, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Headache Impact Test (HIT-6), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC), Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI), Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument-Abbreviated Version. Only questionnaires completed on the same date as the NSI were examined. RESULTS: The total NSI score was moderately to strongly correlated with all questionnaires except for the AUDIT. The strongest correlation was between the NSI Affective Score and the PHQ9 (r = 0.86). The NSI Vestibular Score was moderately correlated with the ABC (r = -0.55) and strongly correlated with the DHI (r = 0.77). At the item level, the HIT-6 showed strong correlation with NSI headache (r = 0.80), the ISI was strongly correlated with NSI difficulty sleeping (r = 0.63), and the ESS was moderately correlated with NSI fatigue (r = 0.39). CONCLUSION: Clinicians and healthcare administrators can use the correlations reported in this study to determine if questionnaires add incremental value for their clinic as well as to make more informed decisions regarding which questionnaires to administer.