Brain injury in veterans tied to higher Alzheimer's risk

by KAREN WEINTRAUB / Special for USA TODAY

KING5.com

Posted on June 26, 2014 at 1:47 PM

Updated today at 1:47 PM

Veterans who had multiple risk factors such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, or heart disease in addition to head injury were more likely to develop dementia.

It's not clear why head injuries may play a role in dementia, said lead researcher Deborah Barnes, an epidemiologist at the VA and associate professor at UCSF, but it's possible that the more insults the brain experiences, the more vulnerable it becomes to dementia. It's also plausible that a brain injury could lead directly to the development of brain plaques that eventually cause Alzheimer's, she said.

Other researchers were quick to note that the injuries studied were severe, traumatic brain injuries, not the kind of everyday concussions that happen on the soccer field.

There's no evidence that those kind of milder injuries lead to later problems, said Jeffrey Kutcher, a neurologist, concussion expert and associate professor at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor.

Dementia is caused by a variety of factors, Kutcher said, including genetics, lifestyle and injuries. As it's impossible to completely prevent injuries, more effort should be spent on treating and fending off dementia, he said.

"Head trauma is just one piece of a big puzzle," added Rodolfo Savica, a neurologist with University of Utah Health Care in Salt Lake City, who wrote an editorial accompanying the Neurology study. "All of us receive hits in our heads. All of us. Ever since we were kids."

More:
Brain injury in veterans tied to higher Alzheimer's risk