title: Evidence of cognitive decline in older adults after remote traumatic brain injury: an exploratory study.
abstract: Separate bodies of literature indicate that a history of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and natural aging may result in overlapping cognitive profiles, yet little is known about their combined effect. We predicted that a remote TBI would compound normal age-related cognitive decline, particularly affecting executive function. Neuropsychological task performance was compared between a group of older adults who sustained a TBI in their distant past (N = 9) and a group of older adults with no history of head injury (N = 15). While all participants scored in the normal range on the Mini-Mental State Examination, the TBI group scored lower than the non-TBI group. Also, in line with predictions, the TBI group made more errors on measures of executive functioning compared to the non-TBI group (the Trail Making B test and the incongruent condition of the Stroop Test), but performed similarly on all tasks with little executive requirements. Findings from this exploratory study indicate that a past TBI may put older adults at a higher risk for exacerbated age-related cognitive decline compared to older adults with no history of TBI.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Waterloo , Waterloo , Ontario , Canada.
authors.forename: Lana J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Ozen
authors.forename: Myra A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: Amanda J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Eric A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Roy
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests
keywords: Stroop Test; Trail Making Test; aging; attention; concussion