Studies associate head injuries with dementia in later life.
The Wall Street Journal (7/18, A3, Wang, Subscription Publication) reports that, according to two studies to be presented today at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease in Paris, concussions and other head injuries may be associated with dementia in later life and may also increase vulnerability for Alzheimer's symptoms. In the first study, researchers who analyzed data on 280,000 veterans of the military older than age 54 found that those who had a diagnosis involving traumatic brain injury faced triple the risk for developing dementia. In a second study, which involved about 500 former professional football players with the NFL who were showing symptoms of mild cognitive impairment, researchers found that the players had similar cognitive function scores as elderly people with MCI, even though the players were years younger.
An AP (7/18, Marchione) story run by at least 146 publications reports, "A large study in older veterans raises fresh concern about mild brain injuries that hundreds of thousands of American troops have suffered from explosions in recent wars. Even concussions seem to raise the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or other dementia later in life, researchers found." The research, funded by the US Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health, was led by Dr. Kristine Yaffe, director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at the Veterans Affairs hospital in San Francisco. Researchers working on the study "reviewed medical records on 281,540 veterans who got care from Veterans Health Administration hospitals from 1997 to 2000 and had at least one follow-up visit from 2001-2007."
According to the Wall Street Journal (7/18, Wang, Subscription Publication), Yaffe's says her findings raise concerns about the possible long-term impact of veterans' traumatic brain injuries. The Journal also took note of a separate study which found that professional football players may also be at increased risk of cognitive problems later in life. USA Today (7/18, Marcus) notes, "Yaffe says more research is needed to explore whether early rehabilitation can help reduce the risk for dementia." She added, "If you know you've had a head injury and you are approaching older age, one has to be carefully monitored and screened for cognitive dementia."
Bloomberg News (7/18, Torsoli) notes that Yaffe's research findings will be "presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Paris" on Monday, where they will "highlight another potential hazard of war. Traumatic brain injury is a 'signature wound' of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, accounting for 22 percent of casualties overall and 59 percent of blast-related injuries, said" Yaffe.
http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/medical/alzheimers/story/2011/07/Traumatic-brain-injury-doubles-risk-of-Alzheimers/49472436/1?dlvrit=205764
Cartoonist Steve Moore has devoted plenty of ink to lampooning everything associated with athletic training in his nationally syndicated comic In the Bleachers.
But even he admitted questioning whether to make light of concussions during his keynote address this week at the Southwest Athletic Trainers Association's 57th meeting at the Westin Galleria.
Of course, he still does it.
The cartoon he brought featured a machine that sucks concussions out of an athlete's head, and it's funny. But his hesitation underscores the seriousness of the issue. That goes double for high school athletes, whose brains still are developing.
"If a youngster sprains his ankle, the parents, coaches and the youngsters themselves can see the swelling, they can see the limping, the fact that they're on crutches and so forth, so they can follow the injury and understand the concept," said Bucky Taylor, an athletic trainer for Mesquite ISD. "But you can't put the brain on crutches."
Protecting the youth
To help protect athletes, Taylor and Dennis Hart, a part-time athletic trainer for Mesquite ISD, helped develop a bill dealing with concussions.
The bill, House Bill 2038, authored by Rep. Four Price, R-Amarillo, establishes a three-step process for dealing with concussions in student-athletes statewide.
It was signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry last month and takes effect Sept. 1, just in time for the upcoming high school football season.
The bill, dubbed Natasha's Law, calls for state-mandated education for all parties, removal from play of athletes suspected with a concussion, and guidelines for return to activity.
"A concussion is an injury to the brain, one of our most vital organs, and when a youngster sustains a concussion there's a great chance that they'll have a second and a third one, and if they haven't fully recovered — and this is a key point - from the initial concussion, and they're allowed to return to play while they're still symptomatic, incidents of a catastrophic brain injury are high, and that's what we're trying to prevent," Taylor said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 300,000 mild traumatic brain injuries, or concussions, occur annually in the United States as a result of participation in sports.
The Sports Concussion Institute estimates 10 percent of athletes in contact sports suffer a concussion during a season, and a 2006 report estimated there are 92,000 cases of concussion in high school sports yearly.
