Traumatic Brain Injury Linked to Cognitive Decline in Twin Study

THURSDAY, Sept. 7, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with cognitive decline later in life, according to a study published online Sept. 6 in Neurology.

Marianne Chanti-Ketterl, Ph.D., from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, and colleagues utilized a twin registry to examine the association between lifetime TBI and cognitive decline. Members of the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council Twin Registry of male veterans of World War II with self or proxy reported history of TBI and with up to four observations over 12 years of the modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-m) were included. The association between TBI and TICS-m was analyzed in the full sample and among cotwins discordant for TBI. Data were included for 8,662 participants; 25 percent reported TBI.

The researchers found that history of any TBI, TBI with loss of consciousness (LOC), and older-age (25+ years) TBI were associated with lower TICS-m scores at age 70 years (β, −0.56, −0.51, and −0.66, respectively). Associations with faster cognitive decline were seen for TBI with LOC, more than one TBI, and older-age TBI (β, −0.03, −0.05, and −0.06, respectively). Among 589 monozygotic twin pairs discordant for TBI, a history of TBI and older-age TBI were associated with lower TICS-m scores at age 70 years (β, −0.55 and −0.74, respectively). Compared with their cotwin without TBI, those with more than one TBI and older-age TBI showed greater cognitive decline (β, −0.13 and −0.07, respectively).

"Although these effect sizes are modest, the contribution of TBI on late life cognition, in addition to numerous other factors with a detrimental effect on cognition, may be enough to trigger an evaluation for cognitive impairment," Chanti-Ketterl said in a statement.

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