No link seen between traumatic brain injury and cognitive decline
These findings appear in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease . More than 10 million individuals worldwide are affected annually by TBI, however the true prevalence is likely even greater given that a majority of TBIs are mild in severity and may not be recognized or reported. TBI is a major public health and socioeconomic concern resulting in $11.5 billion in direct medical costs and $64.8 billion in indirect costs to the U.S. health system in 2010 alone. According to the researchers the relationship between TBI and long-term cognitive trajectories remains poorly understood due to limitations of previous studies, including small sample sizes, short follow-up periods, biased samples, high attrition rates, limited or no reports of exposure to repetitive head impacts (such as those received through contact sports), and very brief cognitive test batteries. In an effort to examine this possible connection, researchers compared performance on cognitive tests over time for 706 par...