Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) is linked to a significantly increased risk for a host of subsequent cardiovascular, endocrine, neurologic, and psychiatric disorders, new research shows.
Incidence of hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes, stroke, depression, and dementia all began to increase soon after the brain injury and persisted over a decade in both mild and moderate-to-severe TBI.
Researchers found the multisystem comorbidities in all age groups, including in patients as young as 18. They also found that patients who developed multiple post-injury problems had higher mortality during the decade-long follow up.
The findings suggest patients with TBI may require longer follow-up and proactive screening for multisystem disease, regardless of age or injury severity.
Dr Ross Zafonte
"The fact that both patients with mild and moderate-to-severe injuries both had long-term ongoing associations with comorbidities that continued over time and that they are cardiovascular, endocrine, neurologic, and behavioral health-oriented was pretty striking," study author Ross Zafonte, DO, PhD, president of Spaulding Rehab Hospital and professor and chair of physical medicine and rehab at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, told Medscape Medical News.
The study was published online April 28 in JAMA Network Open.
Injury Severity Not a Factor
An estimated 2.8 million individuals in the United States experience TBI every year. Worldwide, the figure may be as high as 74 million.
