PARIS – A large study in older veterans raises fresh concern about mild brain injuries that hundreds of thousands of troops have suffered from explosions in recent wars. Even concussions seem to raise the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia later in life, researchers found.
Closed-head, traumatic brain injuries are a legacy of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Body armor is helping troops survive bomb blasts, but the long-term effects of their head injuries are unknown.
Other research found a possibly high rate of mild cognitive impairment, or “pre-Alzheimer’s,” in some retired pro-football players, who take many hits to the head in their careers.
The studies, reported last week at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in France, challenge the current view that only moderate or severe brain injuries predispose people to dementia.
“Even a concussion or a mild brain injury can put you at risk,” said Laurie Ryan, a neuropsychiatrist who used to work at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and now oversees Alzheimer’s grants at the U.S. National Institute on Aging.
Don’t panic – this doesn’t mean that every soldier or student athlete who has had a concussion is in danger. Pro-football players and boxers “are almost a different species from us” in terms of the repeated blows they take to the head, said William Thies, the Alzheimer’s Association’s scientific director.
It does mean you should try to avoid one, by fall-proofing your home and wearing helmets and seat belts, he said. About 1.7 million brain injuries occur each year in the U.S.
Troops also need to prevent any further harm, said Dr. David Cifu, national director of physical medicine and rehabilitation for the Veterans Health Administration.
“What the people who have had a head injury and read this should do is to exercise and eat right and take their medicines and take their aspirin and do meditation to reduce stress – reduce risk factors that are modifiable,” he said. The new study is “a great start,” but limitations in its methods mean that it can’t prove a brain injury-dementia link, he said. More definitive studies are starting now but will take many years to give results.