Recovery among Older Adults Following Head Injury

Development of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) is multifactorial, and some causal factors can be influenced or modified. Recently, the Lancet Commission included traumatic brain injury (TBI) in its list of 12 key potentially modifiable ADRD risk factors. TBI is a very common injury among older adults, resulting in over 123,000 hospitalizations and 485,000 emergency department visits annually. Importantly, rates of TBI are rapidly increasing in this population.

TBI results in cognitive impairment and increases risk for both Alzheimer's disease and fronto-temporal dementia. Furthermore, TBI can result in worsened health outcomes (e.g., poor physical functioning, psychological distress, worsened sleep quality), which in turn increase risk for ADRD. Yet, despite the large public health impact of TBI among older adults, little is known about changes in cognition and related domains following discharge from acute care in this population. Although such information is urgently needed to guide rehabilitation, care planning, and promotion of optimal long-term recovery in this vulnerable population, these data are severely lacking in the literature.

One major reason for this lack of knowledge is that most prior research on TBI has focused on younger adults. Unfortunately, many findings from younger adults do not generalize to older adults due to their higher comorbidity burden and poorer cognitive and physical functioning at discharge from acute care. The objective of the proposed research is to gain an in-depth understanding of recovery of cognition, psychological and physical functioning, and sleep quality following TBI among older adults. To achieve this objective, we propose to conduct a prospective cohort study of 250 patients aged 65 years and older treated for mild TBI at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center with follow-up at 3, 6, and 12 months to complete three Specific Aims: 1) Assess recovery of cognitive functioning and identify predictors of poor recovery; 2) Assess recovery of physical and psychological functioning and sleep quality and identify predictors of poor recovery; 3) Identify interactions between recovery trajectories.

The significance of this research is that it will identify unique recovery patterns across important domains of functioning (including cognitive function) and factors that impact the course of recovery following mild TBI among older adults. Identification of individuals at risk for poor cognitive recovery following TBI will highlight a population at high risk of ADRD and would permit targeting those individuals with cognitive rehabilitation interventions, potentially reducing ADRD risk. The rationale for the proposed study is that early identification of patients with poorer recovery trajectories will permit development and targeting of appropriately timed interventions to mitigate ADRD risk and other adverse outcomes. The potential impact of this work is that it will generate new knowledge that will guide targeted treatment efforts and inform development of a geriatric-TBI focused rehabilitation intervention that will be the focus of a future R01 application.

Grant Number: 5R01AG076441-05
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Jennifer Albrecht