http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/traumatic_brain_injury Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:40:46 -0800 pixel-app en http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/110 Mon, 23 Oct 2000 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/articles/read/110
The more severe the head injury, the greater the risk of developing Alzheimer’s, the teams at the U.S. National Institute on Ageing (NIA) and Duke University in North Carolina found.

The researchers said they do not know just what, biologically, is happening over the 50 years between injury and disease in the men, but said their study shows that Alzheimer’s is a long-term, progressive condition.

“We found that head injury in early adult life was associated with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in late life, and that this risk increased with the severity of the injury,” the researchers wrote in their report, published in Tuesday’s issue of the journal Neurology.

Trying to Interrupt the Disease
“Understanding how head injury and other Alzheimer’s disease risk factors begin their destructive work early in life may ultimately lead to finding ways to interrupt the disease process early on,” Brenda Plassman of Duke University, who helped lead the study, said in a statement.

The study does not show that injuries directly cause Alzheimer’s, Dr. Richard Havlik of the NIA cautioned.

“While we may not fully understand what’s going on, as a practical matter, it may be one more reason to wear that bike helmet instead of keeping it in a closet,” he said in a statement. But then he added that the injuries the veterans suffered may have been very different from today’s common head injuries, which often come during sports activities.

Havlik, Plassman and colleagues looked at the military medical records of male Navy and Marine World War II veterans who were hospitalized with a diagnosis of head injury or an unrelated condition. They used current Veteran’s Affairs medical records to track down 548 veterans who had suffered a head injury and 1,228 veterans who had not.

They separated out those with mild injury, involving loss of consciousness or amnesia for less than 30 minutes with no skull fracture, moderate injury with loss of consciousness or amnesia for more than 30 minutes but less than 24 hours, or a skull fracture, and severe injury with loss of consciousness or amnesia for 24 or more hours.

The scientists then tested volunteers to see which of the veterans had Alzheimer’s.

The risk of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia was doubled in the men with moderate head injury, and it was four time greater in those who had severe head injury.

To see if the injury somehow interacted with genetic factors, the researchers checked the men to see if they had the APOE-4 gene, which is known to also be associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s. They found no significant correlation.

“Each year an estimated 1.5 [million] to 2 million individuals in the United States experience a significant head injury,” the researchers wrote.

They said it is important to find better ways to prevent and treat traumatic head injury.
]]> http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/traumatic_brain_injury Mon, 23 Oct 2000 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/traumatic_brain_injury Traumatic Brain Injury Of all types of injury, those to the brain are among the most likely to result in death or permanent disability. Estimates of traumatic brain injury (TBI) incidence, severity, and cost reflect the enormous losses to individuals, their families, and society from these injuries. According to the CDC, each year more than 80,000 Americans survive a hospitalization for traumatic brain injury but are discharged with TBI-related disabilities and 5.3 million Americans are living today with a TBI-related disability.

Twenty-two percent of people who have a TBI die from their injuries. The risk of having a TBI is especially high among adolescents, young adults, and people older than 75 years of age. For persons of all ages, the risk of TBI among males is twice the risk among females. The leading causes of TBI are motor vehicle crashes, violence, and falls. Nearly two-thirds of firearm-related TBIs are classified as suicidal in intent.

The leading causes of TBI vary by age: falls are the leading cause of TBI among persons aged 65 years and older, whereas transportation leads among persons aged 5 to 64 years. Traumatic brain injury can greatly affect many cognitive, physical, and psychological skills. Physical deficit can include ambulation, balance, coordination, fine motor skills, strength, and endurance.

Cognitive deficits of language and communication, information processing, memory, and perceptual skills are common. Psychological status is also often altered. Adjustment to disability issues are frequently encountered by people with TBI.

Because the majority of traumatic brain injuries are caused by accidents, many innocent people unnecessarily suffer because of the carelessness of others. The economic burden of treating traumatic brain injury patients is between 9 billion dollars and 10 billion dollars per year. It is estimated that persons suffering a severe traumatic brain injury may incur between 600,000.00 dollars and 1.9 million dollars in long term rehabilitative care. With this in mind, a qualified lawyer with extensive experience in handling traumatic brain injury cases, should be hired as quickly as possible, to seek the compensation you and your family deserve.

If you or a loved have been injured in an accident and suffer from Traumatic Brain Injury, please fill out the form at the right for a free case evaluation by a qualified personal injury attorney.]]>