Racial and ethnic differences in the association between mild traumatic brain injury and work duty limitations in the US military

Objective: This study examined racial and ethnic differences in the association between mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and work duty limitations in active-duty service members (ADSMs). Methods: This study used retrospective and cross-sectional data from the 2019–2021 Military Health System Data Repository on 910,700 ADSMs who were 18–64 years old and were grouped into racial and ethnic categories of White, non-Hispanic; Black, non-Hispanic; Hispanic/Latino; and Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic. Results: Descriptive statistics showed that Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian or Pacific Islander patients had a lower proportion of having a diagnosis of mTBI compared to White patients (ps < 0.001). Further, the proportion of history of deployment varied by racial and ethnic group and deployment location. Multivariate logistic regression results showed odds of 1.52 (p < 0.001) for White patients with mTBI, odds of 1.61 (p < 0.001) for Black patients with mTBI, odds of 1.57 (p < 0.001) for Hispanic/Latino patients with mTBI, and odds of 1.99 (p < 0.001) for Asian or Pacific Islander patients with mTBI for being placed on work duty limitations. Discussion: These results advance our understanding of the work duty limitations for racial/ethnic minority patients with mTBI in the Military Health System.