Risk of Dementia Increases Significantly for People Who have Concussion in their 20s

April 24, 2018, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

New research published in the Lancet finds that the risk of dementia increases by 60% for people who suffer a concussion in the 20s. TBI has long been associated with an increased risk of dementia but in the large scale study the relationship between dementia and TBI is very clear.

The researchers took their data from the Danish Civil Registration System which tracked nearly 2.8 million people for an equivalent of 28 million person years to determine the risks factors for dementia. What they found was stunning. They found that even a mild concussion in the 20s increases the risk of dementia by almost 20% later in life.

This doesn’t mean that everyone who suffers a concussion in their 20s will develop dementia, but the odds are much higher for those individuals. The study also identified the cumulative effect of repeated blows. The risk of dementia onset increased with repeated episodes of brain injury. People with 5 or more concussions were 300% more likely to develop dementia than those with no concussion.

Dementia includes degenerative disorders that cause the gradual loss of brain function. The symptoms include:

• Memory loss
• Slower thinking speeds
• Impacts on mental agility
• Language deterioration
• Comprehension issues
• Impaired judgement

Dementia impacts 1/3 people over the age of 65 and 2/3 of the victims are women.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.