The Risk of Developing Dementia Following a Traumatic Brain Injury

The association between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the risk of dementia remains controversial due to discrepant findings across studies although increasingly studies have pointed to a positive correlation. Two large prospective studies (Katzman et al., 1989; Mehta et al., 1999) did not find increased risk of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease associated with TBI. However, a cohort study (Schofield et al., 1997), a case control study (O’Meara et al., 1997), and a prospective longitudinal cohort study (Plassman et al., 2000) each found associations between TBI and dementia.