Is there a link between traumatic brain injury and dementia?

Individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) could be more likely to develop dementia when they're older, according to new research.

Scientists from the University of California, San Francisco looked at the chances of experiencing the condition among individuals aged 55 and older who had TBI versus those who had non-TBI body trauma (NTT). These are considered to be fractures, but not of the head or neck. 

It transpired that 31.5 per cent of the 51,799 patients analysed by Raquel Gardner and her team had TBI. Out of these, 4,631 (8.4 per cent) developed the degenerative disorder in comparison to 5.9 per cent of those with NTT. 

In addition, the typical timeframe from trauma to diagnosis was 3.2 years - but this was marginally shorter for those with TBI. 

The authors noted that an individual's chance of developing the condition after TBI was dependent upon a few factors, such as genetics and environmental issues. 

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