New Study Proves Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries Lead to Alzheimer’s
New reports discussed at the Alzheimer’s Association’s International Conference state that older veterans who have sustained a mild brain injury were likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related diseases later in life. The study also found a high rate of mild cognitive impairment, or "pre-Alzheimer’s," in retired pro-football players who suffered from multiple concussions during their careers.
The study’s findings negate older reports which stated that only moderate or severe brain injuries led to dementia. The study raises concerns for current service men and women who have suffered from explosions in recent years.
The veterans study was led by Dr. Kristine Yaffe, a University of California professor and director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. "It’s by far the largest" study of brain injury and dementia risk, she said. "It’s never been looked at in veterans specifically. It’s not just one kind of TBI or super-severe TBI" that poses a danger, Yaffe said.
The study included 281,540 veterans who received care from Veterans Health Administration hospitals from 1997 to 2000 and had at least one follow-up visit from 2001-2007. The participants were 55 years of age or older, and no one had been diagnosed with dementia when the study began. Records showed that 4,902 of the veterans had suffered a traumatic brain injury, or TBI, ranging from concussions to skull fractures.
Over the next seven years, more than 15 percent of those who had suffered a brain injury were diagnosed with dementia versus only 7 percent of the others – a more than doubled risk. Severity of the injury made no difference in the odds of developing dementia.