• Benjamin S C Wade, David F Tate, Eamonn Kennedy, Erin D Bigler, Gerald E York, Brian A Taylor, Maya Troyanskaya, Elizabeth S Hovenden, Naomi Goodrich-Hunsaker, Mary R Newsome, Emily L Dennis, Tracy Abildskov, Mary Jo Pugh, William C Walker, Kimbra Kenney, Aaron Betts, Robert Shih, Robert C Welsh, and Elisabeth A Wilde.
• TBI and Concussion Center, Department of Neurology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
• J. Neurotrauma. 2024 Jan 1; 41 (1-2): 324032-40.

AbstractMild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is the most common form of brain injury. While most individuals recover from mTBI, roughly 20% experience persistent symptoms, potentially including reduced fine motor control. We investigate relationships between regional white matter organization and subcortical volumes associated with performance on the Grooved Pegboard (GPB) test in a large cohort of military Service Members and Veterans (SM&Vs) with and without a history of mTBI(s). Participants were enrolled in the Long-term Impact of Military-relevant Brain Injury Consortium-Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium. SM&Vs with a history of mTBI(s) (n = 847) and without mTBI (n = 190) underwent magnetic resonance imaging and the GPB test. We first examined between-group differences in GPB completion time. We then investigated associations between GPB performance and regional structural imaging measures (tractwise diffusivity, subcortical volumes, and cortical thickness) in SM&Vs with a history of mTBI(s). Lastly, we explored whether mTBI history moderated associations between imaging measures and GPB performance. SM&Vs with mTBI(s) performed worse than those without mTBI(s) on the non-dominant hand GPB test at a trend level (p < 0.1). Higher fractional anisotropy (FA) of tracts including the posterior corona radiata, superior longitudinal fasciculus, and uncinate fasciculus were associated with better GPB performance in the dominant hand in SM&Vs with mTBI(s). These findings support that the organization of several white matter bundles are associated with fine motor performance in SM&Vs. We did not observe that mTBI history moderated associations between regional FA and GPB test completion time, suggesting that chronic mTBI may not significantly influence fine motor control.

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