Long-Term Associations of Subconcussive Blast Exposure With Brain Function and Structure

Jared A Rowland; Benjamin T Dunkley; Jennifer R Stapleton-Kotloski; Craig A Hamilton; Mollie A McDonald; Dwayne W Godwin; Sarah L Martindale

doi:10.1097/HTR.0000000000001169

Long-Term Associations of Subconcussive Blast Exposure With Brain Function and Structure

J Head Trauma Rehabil. 2026 Apr 13. doi: 10.1097/HTR.0000000000001169. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jared A Rowland¹, Benjamin T Dunkley, Jennifer R Stapleton-Kotloski, Craig A Hamilton, Mollie A McDonald, Dwayne W Godwin, Sarah L Martindale

Affiliation

¹ Author Affiliations: Research and Academic Affairs Service Line (Rowland, Hamilton, McDonald, and Martindale), Salisbury VA Healthcare System, Research and Academic Affairs, Salisbury, North Carolina; Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center (Rowland, Martindale), Durham, North Carolina; Department of Translational Neuroscience (Rowland, Godwin, Martindale), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Neurosciences & Mental Health (Dunkley), SickKids Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Medical Imaging (Dunkley), University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology (Dunkley), Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology (Dunkley), University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; Department of Psychology (Dunkley), University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Department of Neurology (Stapleton-Kotloski), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Department of Biomedical Engineering (Hamilton), Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

PMID: 41968423
DOI: 10.1097/HTR.0000000000001169

Abstract

Objective: To determine the characteristics of subconcussive blast exposure associated with differences in brain structure and brain function.

Setting: Veterans Affairs Health Care System.

Participants: Combat-exposed veterans (n = 107) without history of blast-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) or military TBI volunteered to participate.

Design: Observational study.

Main outcomes and measures: Connectome metrics describing the functional brain connectome, the unique brain network present at rest for individuals, were measured using magnetoencephalography. Regional brain volumes were calculated from anatomical magnetic resonance imaging using FreeSurfer. The Salisbury Blast Interview evaluated lifetime blast exposure.

Results: Several blast characteristics were associated with the functional connectome. The average severity of exposures was related to slowing of oscillatory communication (average pressure, parameter estimate = -4.41, P < .05 corrected). By contrast, the frequency of exposures was associated with topological differences including the number of active brain regions (number of blast exposures, parameter estimate = 0.01, P < .05 corrected) and the composition of core subnetworks (number of close-range blast exposures, parameter estimate = 0.0005, P < .05 corrected). Subconcussive blast exposure was unrelated to brain volumes.

Conclusion: These results demonstrate that cumulative burden of subconcussive blast exposures is associated with long-term brain function. Independent relationships with the functional connectome were observed for both the average severity and the frequency of subconcussive blast exposures. This contrasts with previous work combining concussive and subconcussive blast demonstrating the highest severity across all exposures was most relevant to long-term brain function. A critical implication of these results is that long-term brain function may be associated with blast exposure, even in the absence of acute clinical effects or noticeable symptoms. This renders subconcussive blast exposure an invisible neurological insult with potential long-term implications for brain function. As military occupational blast exposure (MOBE) is primarily subconcussive in nature, this has direct implications for its conceptualization, regulation, and monitoring.

Keywords: brain injuries; brain network; explosion; military; traumatic.

Abstract

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