Document Type : Research paper
Authors
- Tia Cummins 1
- Alby Elias 2
- Fiona Lamb 3
- Chris Rowe 4
- Jennie Ponsford 5
- Mal Hopwood 2
- Victor Villemagne 4
1 The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Molecular Imaging & Therapy, Centre for PET, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia.
2 Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
3 Department of Molecular Imaging & Therapy, Centre for PET, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia.
4 Department of Molecular Imaging & Therapy, Centre for PET, Austin Health, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
5 Monash-Epworth Rehabilitation Research Centre, Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Abstract
Objective: Since 2000, over 350,000 US military personnel have been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) (VA, 2010). Whilst epidemiological studies report up to a fourfold increased risk for dementia associated with brain injury amongst veterans there is limited controlled research into the long-term neuropsychological burden of injury.
Main aim: The study aimed to determine whether Australian Vietnam war veterans with service-related TBI were more likely to exhibit cognitive deficits, 30-50 years after injury when compared to healthy veteran controls.
Materials and methods: 69 male veterans 60-85 years old, underwent psychiatric and neuropsychological assessment; 40 with a TBI (mean age = 68.0 ± 2.5) and 29 without (mean age = 70.1 ± 5.3). The TBI cohort included 15 mild, 16 moderate and nine severe TBI.
Results: After adjustment for identified covariates, veterans with moderate-to-severe TBI performed significantly worse than controls on composite measures of memory and learning (M = -0.55 ± 0.69, t(67) = 2.86, p=0.006, d=0.70) and attention and processing speed (M = -0.71 ± 1.08, t(52) = 2.53, p=0.014, d=0.69). There were no differences in cognitive performance between veterans with mild TBI (mTBI) and controls.
Conclusion: Results from this study suggest that amongst ageing veterans, a moderate-to-severe TBI sustained during early adulthood is associated with later-life cognitive deficits in memory and learning, attention and processing speed.
Keywords
Main Subjects
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