USA Today (6/25, Weintraub) reports that according to a study published online June 25 in the journal Neurology, older veterans who have sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) appear to have an increased risk for dementia, compared to veterans who have never sustained a TBI.
HealthDay (6/26, Fischer) reports that after evaluating 190,000 veterans, average age 68, 1,229 of which had been diagnosed with a TBI, researchers found that veterans with TBIs “were 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed with dementia sooner than those who never had a brain injury.” Notably, “the risk for developing dementia was higher in veterans with a brain injury who also experienced depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or cerebrovascular disease, compared to those who had either a brain injury or any one of those conditions.”
Related Links:
— “Brain injury in veterans tied to higher Alzheimer’s risk,” Karen Weintraub, USA Today, June 26, 2014.