Impact of Age on Plasma Inflammatory Biomarkers in the 6 Months Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.
Hilaire J Thompson, Sarah R Martha, Jin Wang and 1 others
PMID 32881766WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults with mild brain injury showed higher blood inflammatory markers than younger adults over six months, especially fractalkine and IL-8.
This is a blood marker finding, not a treatment effect.
Key findings
01Older adults with mild TBI had higher IL-6, IL-8 and fractalkine than younger adults with mild TBI within 24 hours, and higher IL-6 and IL-8 at six months, with lower IL-7 at six months.
02Fractalkine was higher in older adults with mild TBI than older non-injured controls at under 24 hours and at six months.
03Non-injured older adults differed from non-injured younger adults in five cytokines from baseline to six months: IL-2, IL-5, IL-8, TNF-alpha and GM-CSF.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study used one trauma centre and community controls, so the sample may not represent all groups; the authors note limited racial and ethnic diversity. Plasma was measured instead of cerebrospinal fluid, so it may not directly reflect inflammation inside the brain. Early samples were taken as close as possible to admission, which may have added time-of-day variability to cytokine levels. Older adults with mild TBI were more likely to have received pre-hospital care and ICU admission than younger adults, so differences may reflect injury or care context as well as age. The study did not link cytokine levels to symptoms, function or recovery.
Declared interests
The supplied text lists NIH extramural research support, but it does not give a conflict of interest declaration or author disclosures.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these blood marker differences as evidence that a treatment works or that older adults recover worse. The study measured inflammatory proteins only and did not test a therapy or link markers to symptoms.