Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Does Not Significantly Affect Midlife Cognitive Functioning Within the General Population: Findings From a Prospective Longitudinal Birth Cohort Study.
Alice Theadom, Suzanne Barker-Collo, Varsha Parag and 5 others
PMID 37335217WHAT IT FOUND
Midlife cognitive tests showed no meaningful difference between people with a history of mild traumatic brain injury and those without.
Any small initial gap in processing speed disappeared once childhood IQ, education, and substance use were accounted for.
Key findings
01There were no significant differences in overall cognition, verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, attention, or cognitive flexibility between adults with and without a history of mild traumatic brain injury.
02A small difference in processing speed observed in the raw data was not significant after adjusting for childhood cognition, sociodemographic factors, and alcohol or cannabis dependence.
03The number of injuries sustained or the age at which the first injury occurred did not predict midlife cognitive functioning in the adjusted models.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The sample was 93% of European ethnicity, limiting generalizability to other populations. Moderate to severe TBIs were excluded, so results do not apply to more severe injuries. Cognitive testing was conducted in a controlled research setting, which may miss subtle real-world cognitive difficulties. Some mild injuries may have been missed if they did not result in medical attention or sufficient documentation. The study only assessed participants up to age 45, so it cannot speak to later-life dementia risk.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest were reported. The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging and other NIH grants.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the null findings as proof that mild traumatic brain injury is harmless. This study excluded moderate to severe injuries and did not assess participants beyond age 45, so it does not rule out long-term neurodegenerative risks or deficits in complex real-world executive functioning.