New Study Indicates Traumatic Brain Injuries Double the Risk of Developing Dementia in Later Years

Kristine Yaffe, director of the Memory Disorders Program at the San Francisco VA Medical Center, and her colleagues looked at medical records of nearly 300,000 veterans all 55 or older. None of the subjects had dementia at the beginning of the study. Around 2% of the cases had been affected by a TBI, and all of them had a least one inpatient or outpatient visit between 1997 and 2000 and a follow-up visit between 2001-2007.

According to her findings, the risk of dementia was 15% in those that had been diagnosed with a TBI and only 7% in those who had never had a TBI. In fact, other studies have shown that a traumatic brain injury can increase the risk of dementia. This study helps to further solidify previous findings.  However, Yaffe and her collegues say that more research is needed in order to explore whether or not early rehabilitation can help reduce the risk. She also states it is very important for someone who has had a head injury and is approaching older age to be monitored and screened for cognitive dementia.

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