Personal Injury Law

Male Veterans Diagnosed With PTSD Are Twice As Likely To Develop Dementia

By Bruce Stern

Male veterans diagnosed as having post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were a nearly two-fold hire risk of developing dementia compared with those without PTSD, a new study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry (2010) 67 (6):608-613.  The article entitled 'Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Risk of Dementia Among U.S. Veterans' was carrier out by researchers at the School of Medicine University of California, San Francisco, and the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center.  The objective of the study was to determine whether (PTSD) is associated with the risk of developing dementia among older U.S. veterans receiving treatment in the Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Centers.  The study reviewed 181,093 veterans of whom 53,155 veterans had been diagnosed with PTSD and 127,938 veterans without PTSD. 

The study found that those diagnosed as having PTSD were nearly two-fold higher risk of developing dementia compared with those veterans who had not suffered PTSD.

The study looked at possible explanations for this finding.  'One possibility is that PTSD is causally related to the development of dementia.  There is some evidence, albeit controversial, that veterans with PTSD perform more poorly on cognitive tests.  This poor performance on cognitive testing compared with those without PTSD could be a risk factor for development of dementia because those with worse function may have less cognitive reserve and be at higher risk for cognitive impairment.' 

The researchers also looked at the possibility that another mechanism might be chronic stress.  Noting that 'stress may damage the hippocampus, a brain structure crucial for memory and learning. 

According to the researchers, another explanation for the association is that dementia and PTSD co-occur more frequently together or that one condition my 'unmask' the other.

Finally the researchers concluded 'it may be that having PTSD or other chronic brain disorders, may pre-dispose patients to developing dementia because of an increased nonspecific vulnerability, for example, genetic vulnerabilities shared by both disorders or childhood environmental factors. 

Full post as published by Traumatic Brain Injury Law Blog on June 17, 2010 (boomark / email).