Common Injury Link to Dementia: Know the Risks

In September, a big study found that older adults who have injurious falls have a higher chance of developing dementia within a year of their accident than those of the same age who suffer other types of physical injuries.
Falls may be an early sign of deteriorating brain abnormalities that lead to Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, according to research by a team of US experts. However, the findings do not imply falls cause dementia, however this cannot be ruled out either.

Physician Alexander Ordoobadi of Brigham and Women's Hospital and colleagues explain in their research that "it is possible that falls serve as a sentinel event that marks a future risk for dementia."

"This study's findings suggest support for the implementation of cognitive screening in older adults who experience an injurious fall."

The most frequent cause of injury for persons over 65 is falls. Every year, falls cause injuries to almost one-third of this age group.

"The lack of ownership in the process of follow-up screening for cognitive impairment is one of the biggest challenges we face," Ordoobadi states.

"Because these screenings might not have enough time in an emergency room or trauma center.

Nearly 10 million new cases of dementia are identified each year, forcing more of us to deal with the alarming cognitive deterioration that we or our loved ones are experiencing.

The earlier dementia is detected, the better, as despite decades of research, there is still no treatment and patients are only given ways to slow the spread of their crippling illnesses.


Ordoobadi and colleagues examined a year's worth of Medicare claims from people who had suffered catastrophic injuries in the United States. In 2014 or 2015, they found 2,453,655 people over 65 who sought medical attention for an injury.

The researchers compared individuals who had hurt themselves in a fall with those who had suffered other kinds of physical injuries after ruling out those with established dementia diagnosis.

Compared to the other types of physical injuries the patients sought treatment for at a medical clinic, they discovered that older persons who had injuries from falls had a greater than 20 percent chance of developing dementia within a year of their incident.

"Cognitive decline can increase the likelihood of falls, but trauma from those falls may also accelerate dementia's progression and make a diagnosis more likely down the line."

This study is unable to establish a direct correlation between falls and dementia because it can only ascertain whether one element exhibits the same pattern as another. The researchers' conclusions might have been distorted since they were unable to account for pharmaceutical effects due to a lack of prescription data.According to Brigham and Women's Hospital injury epidemiologist Molly Jarman, "the relationship between falls and dementia appears to be a two-way street."



However, prior research has shown that individuals with documented cognitive impairments are more likely to fall, which lends credence to the theory that falls could be a precursor to these debilitating brain disorders.

Decreased visual sensitivity, poor mental health, and a rise in nightmares are additional possible early warning indicators of the cognitive problems that cause dementia.

Potential dementia patients must be carefully evaluated because cognitive deficits can also be a sign of other curable illnesses.

"If we can establish that falls serve as early indicators of dementia, we could identify other precursors and early events that we could intervene on, which would significantly improve our approach to managing cognitive health in older adults."

The journal JAMA published this study.

This article was previously published in October 2024.


"Our study highlights the opportunity to intervene early," Jarman states.