Brain Injury to Lead to Shorter Life

Just when you thought incurring a traumatic brain injury wasn’t bad enough, new research suggests that people who have received a traumatic brain injury do not live as long as those who haven’t.

A new study conducted over 40 years, on over 200,000 patients that had received a traumatic brain injury(TBI) showed they were three times more likely to die young, than those who never had any type of head trauma. The startling young age of death was before age 56, and those previously diagnosed with mental disorders are even more at risk. What constitutes a traumatic brain injury in the study were patients who have had skull fractures, internal head bleeding, or those unconscious for more than an hour.

What then exactly do scientists believe cause this early death? Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease that is linked to premature death is likely to blame.  CTE is often associated with memory loss (those who drank more than two drinks a day had significant memory loss than those who didn’t), mood swings, depression, confusion, among other cognitive issues. The death of several NFL players in the recent years due to suicide has opened up a number of research platforms and public awareness of this ongoing issue.  Suicide in fact is the leading cause of early death among TBI patients in addition to assault and injury related to a car crash or fall. Many TBI patients suffer greatly from depression after their injury. The reason? Research has shown that traumatic brain injuries change how the brain’s neural network, or operating system work, making it harder for patients to use good judgment in decision making. Decisions that were easily processed before the injury, are now difficult and hard to completely process and understand. The part of the brain that allows people to fully assess risk taking also seems to be compromised in people who receive TBI.

Many doctors now believe that those who have received TBI should be treated as if their injury was the same as if they were diagnosed with a chronic disease. The same monitoring as if someone that has been diagnosed with cancer, diabetes, or a number of other chronic conditions.  Currently treatment revolves around short term survival of patients even though numerous other issues arise in surviving patients later in life such as Alzheimer’s disease. Those that received another traumatic brain injury in life are even worse off, often never becoming the same person mentally.

People who receive traumatic brain injury are three times more likely to die before age 56 compared to those who never have. Doctor’s owe it to their patients to provide lifelong support. As an increase rate of earlier death increases, especially to suicide, it only should come natural that additional post care also increases.

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/traumatic-brain-injury-early-death-risk/

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