A concussion is a mild form of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that occurs as a result of an incident such as a fall, car accident, collision sports, or assault. It is often thought that in these situations, brain dysfunction is temporary.
However, evidence in this field is increasing that traumatic brain injury is a risk factor for dementia. In this regard, a study was conducted under the supervision of researchers from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom to examine how the brain functions after a concussion.
Researchers recruited 617 healthy middle-aged people aged 40 to 59 years as part of a dementia prevention study. The participants were subjected to MRI scan and neuropsychological tests to evaluate the structure and function of the brain, and the history of head trauma was assessed by the Brain Injury Screening Questionnaire (BISQ).
Traumatic brain injury was defined as experiencing at least one blow to the head and loss of consciousness, and mild brain injury was defined as loss of consciousness for less than 30 minutes. Cardiovascular disease risk was also assessed.
Of the 617 participants, 36.1% reported at least one concussion with loss of consciousness. Of these, 56.1% reported one concussion, 27.4% two concussions, and 16.6% more than two concussions.
Evidence shows that traumatic brain injury is a risk factor for dementia
Of the 223 participants with a history of concussion, 76.2% were determined to have injury severity, and of these, 94.1% reported mild concussion and 5.9% reported moderate to severe concussion, which included loss of consciousness for 30 minutes. or more
Small and chronic cerebral hemorrhages were diagnosed in about one out of six participants (17.7%). Compared to people without a history of concussion, the number of microbleeds in the brain was higher in participants with a history of concussion.
A higher number of concussion events was associated with poorer sleep, gait disturbance, more depressive symptoms, and memory deficits, but not with attention deficits. The moderate concussion group had poorer sleep, depression and difficulty walking, but there were no cognitive effects.
By examining the relative contribution of concussion and cardiovascular risk factors (for example, hypertension and diabetes) to these clinical problems, the researchers found that the role of concussion in depression and sleep (but not cognition or gait) was stronger than that of cardiovascular risk factors. .
According to the researchers, the data show that in otherwise healthy middle-aged people, a history of concussion is associated with detectable changes in brain vascular imaging and clinical features.
