ATLANTA: A study has been started into whether there is a link between traumatic brain injury, or PTSD, and Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers think there might be.
Long-term PTSD is already associated with greater risk of heart disease, poorer physical health care and increased smoking, alcohol and drug abuse.
However, the long-term effects on the brain are less understood. Short-term, research has established PTSD can alter the wiring of the brain in areas associated with memory, planning, judgment and concentration.
“One of the common symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease is memory disturbance … and this occurs in the same region of the brain that has disturbed function from PTSD, so there is reason to think that there might be a link,” says…