Non-Self Reporting Screening Tool for PTSD

The Texas Air National Guard (TXANG) has a national defense-related mission need in the area of force health protection for over 24,000 Guardsmen who protect public health for 29 million Texans. Specifically, the TXANG and broader Department of  Defense do not currently have an objective diagnostic Mental Health Assessment to determine post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Tackling mental conditions like PTSD are a high priority for the Chief of the National Guard Bureau and the Secretary of Defense. Specifically, Texas ANG is interested in working with Polaris Genomics to support the further development and deployment of the PTS-ID test for its use as an objective PTSD risk stratification tool. The ANG needs a way to objectively identify warfighters who are experiencing the biological changes found in post-traumatic stress disorder. The symptoms are often overlooked and underreported due to stigma, fear of career repercussions, or because they are not recognized until the condition has negatively  affected the warfighter’s function and mission readiness. Within 21 months of this research and  development project, Polaris Genomics will show that a simple blood test is a much more  sensitive and specific indicator of post-traumatic stress disorder than the subjective survey tools  currently used within the Department of Defense. We believe technology development under the subject SBIR topic will contribute to solving this critical mission need around our airmen’s readiness.