WASHINGTON, D.C.: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) with a loss of consciousness (LOC) may be linked to later development of Parkinson’s disease but not Alzheimer’s disease, according to researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the University of Washington School of Medicine.
The new study contradicts findings from other high-profile studies showing a link between TBI and future Alzheimer’s disease.
In the largest study to date on this subject, the researchers analyzed head injury data from 7,130 older adults. The research was part of three prospective studies that included annual or biennial cognitive and clinical testing.
Of this group, 865 people had suffered TBI with LOC at some point before the study began; 142 of these individuals had been unconscious for more than one hour. The researchers looked for any associations between TBI and late-life clinical outcomes, such as dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, Parkinson’s disease, and change in parkinsonian signs.
The findings showed a strong association between TBI with LOC greater than an hour and Parkinson’s disease (117 cases during the study)….