Brain Injury and Military Service as Risk Factors for Alzheimer s Disease and Other Conditions
Abstract
There is little credible evidence in support of the widely held belief that traumatic brain injury (TBI) or concussion can lead to Alzheimer s disease (AD). About 10% of civilians report a history of TBI, most with only a single episode, most often in early or middle adult life, and most often in association with a traffic or work-related accident. In contrast, those that occur in wartime military service are often associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other conditions reflecting physical and psychological stress. AD is by definition is a highly prevalent late life condition specifically due to widespread degeneration of brain tissues, rather than to a focal or regional brain abnormality attributable to other causes. Since most cases of AD are recognized after age 75 years, the interval between a reported TBI and the development of cognitive impairment attributable to AD would ordinarily be 30-60 years, and the nature of the illness would make a reliable history of TBI suspect. Despite these challenges, there is a great need to assess the question carefully and to extend its breadth to include stressful military experiences linking TBI, PTSD, and combat that might adversely affect a variety of cognitive, physical, emotional, and social ailments in late life. The proposed research will involve exhaustive analyses of fully available data for a large cohort of Japanese-American men born 1900-1919, including a large number of WWII Veterans, many of whom served in the famed 442nd "go for broke," the 100th "one puka-puka," or in military intelligence -- units suffering the highest death and injury rates in the entire war. Prospectively acquired information on TBI (mostly during civilian life) was collected for all participants. Detailed combat data were collected for the Veterans in 1997. In addition to examining connections between these experiences and AD (and allied dementing illnesses), our analyses will consider ages of onset of cognitive and motor impairments, changes in the brain in 852 autopsied decedents, longevity, key chronic medical illnesses, depression, alcohol consumption and unhealthy lifestyle, hearing loss, employment stability, marital stability, social networks, loneliness, financial status in late life, and other conditions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 04, 2016
- Source ID
- W81XWH1510431
Entities
People
- Lon White
Organizations
- Pacific Health Research and Education Institute
- United States Army