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Ohio State study of law enforcement personnel: Head trauma may be correlated with symptoms of PTSD, depression
KEITH ARNOLD
Special to the Legal News
Published: August 20, 2024
A study in which Ohio State University researchers investigated the relationship between head trauma and mental-health symptoms among central Ohio law enforcement personnel revealed more instances of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression among the injured cohort.
Nine percent of the 282 respondents who reported one or more head injuries screened positive for PTSD symptoms, while 36 percent reported depressive symptoms that they rated mild or greater, according to the research published this week in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation.
“This is an area where we have to improve awareness, just like we did in the sport concussion world,” said the study’s lead author Jaclyn Caccese, an assistant professor in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. “The goal is really to improve officer safety and health in the long term, and I think there’s a lot of potential there, especially when it comes to improving career longevity––that although treating these injuries is difficult in the moment, it leads to a longer career, better health outcomes and better quality of life, not only in their service, but also in retirement.”
She reckoned elevated awareness would result in improved reporting and treatment.
Researchers surveyed 381 area law enforcement personnel about their lifetime head injury history, years of service in the military and civilian law enforcement, and rank and section assignment in law enforcement, a news release provided.
“Sometimes law enforcement officers need to complete the task they’ve set out to do, or it’s not a safe environment to just pull yourself off duty right away. And I think adrenaline sometimes masks concussion symptoms,” Caccese said. “In sports, we’ve been able to increase removal from play, and improve rehabilitation and return-to-play following injury. Hopefully that will improve long-term health outcomes in athletes. We’re trying to get that information translated to the occupational context.”
She worked with Franklin County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Walters, who leads a peer support group for deputies.
“Part of what we’re doing with Ohio State is looking at, how can we extend the health of the deputy?” Walters said. “Being physically fit is an important part of our job because not only do my colleagues depend on me, but the community depends on me. And if I can’t physically keep up, then it could be a life-or-death situation for somebody.”
More than 50 percent of participants reported head injuries involving loss of consciousness or circumstances in which they reported feeling dazed or confused, or having a gap in memory––all signs of a probable traumatic brain injury, the study detailed.
Walters, who co-authored the study, said the next step is establishing a return-to-duty protocol and testing its effectiveness and adaptability to different organizations.
“Now we have some data that we can present to administrations, to unions, to leadership that says, ‘Here’s the problem. This is how we can fix it. Let’s start working that process,’” he added.
Other co-authors included Carly Smith, Nathan Edwards, Angela Emerson, Enora Le Flao, Jeffrey Wing, Joshua Hagen and James Onate of Ohio State and Scott Paur of the Franklin County sheriff’s office.
The U.S. assistant secretary of Defense for Health Affairs supported the work through awards from the Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health Research Program, the release noted.
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