Brain changes seen through concussion have close similarities with those seen in Alzheimer’s disease, new research has found.
TBIs affect millions of people worldwide every year and are often followed by changes in brain structure and function and by cognitive problems such as memory deficits, impaired social function and difficulty with decision-making.
Although mild TBI — also known as concussion — is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, prior studies haven’t quantified the extent to which these conditions share patterns of neural degeneration in the brain.
But in new research from USC, the link between TBI and Alzheimer’s has become significantly clearer, researchers say, with potential to predict those at greater risk.
“These findings are the first to suggest that cognitive impairment following a traumatic brain injury is useful for predicting the magnitude of Alzheimer’s-like brain degradation,” says study author Andrei Irimia, from the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.
“The results may help health professionals to identify TBI victims who are at greater risk for Alzheimer’s disease.”
The USC study analysed included 33 people with TBIs due to a fall, another 66 participants who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and 81 healthy control participants without either TBI or Alzheimer’s.
The researchers analysed MRIs of the patients’ brains and created additional computer-generated models to compare dozens of different brain structures, ultimately mapping similarities and differences between the three different groups.
In multiple brain areas of both TBI and Alzheimer’s participants, the researchers found reduced cortical thickness when compared to the healthy controls.
Cortical thickness is roughly correlated with brain age and its thinning is often associated with reductions in attention, memory and verbal fluency, as well as with decreased ability to make decisions, integrate new information and adapt behaviour to new situations, among other deficits.
