- 384studies in the library match, of 29,780
- 158name it in the title
- 1979–2026years published
- 372peer-reviewed articles
The query: title or abstract mentions "head injury", "head trauma", "traumatic brain injury", "TBI", "concussion", "chronic traumatic encephalopathy" or "CTE", matched case-insensitively against each record's title and abstract (its summary field) in alzhub's library of 29,780 study records, as of 2026-11-09. Every count on this page comes from that match. The matched list as JSON.
Traumatic brain injury ranges from concussion with no loss of consciousness to severe injury with coma. Cohort studies in veterans, athletes and whole populations ask how much a head injury raises later dementia risk, whether severity and number of injuries matter, and how long the risk lasts. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a distinct tau pathology found at autopsy in some people with repeated head impacts.
Falls are the commonest cause of head injury in older adults, and people who already have dementia fall more often, so cause and effect can run both ways in these studies.
This page describes what published research in alzhub's library reports. It is not medical advice and does not apply to any one person: a doctor who knows the person's history is the only one who can say what a result or a treatment means for them.
What the studies report, in their own words
Whole sentences copied from the abstract or key findings of the highest-scoring matched studies, chosen because they mention the subject and give a figure. 8 of the 384 matched records are quoted; each links to its study page and from there to the paper.
“Levels of apathy decreased slightly in both groups (mean decrease in AES-I of .61 points, 95% CI -3.54, 2.33 for TBI and .36 points, 95% CI -3.27, 2.55 for CAS).”
“Both CCT and TC may improve global cognition and different specific cognitive domains in older traumatic brain injury patients; the TC's effect may last for at least an additional 6 months.”
“Results A total of 51,799 patients with trauma (31.5%) had TBI.”
“Results Patients with CP had a higher prevalence of hyperlipidaemia, depression, traumatic brain injury and co-morbidities, as well as higher urbanisation levels, than those in the unexposed cohort (all p < 0.01).”
“Compared to no TBI, those with TBI had higher incidence of PD (no TBI 0.31%, all-severity TBI 0.58%, mTBI 0.47%, moderate-severe TBI 0.75%).”
“A total of 4698 veterans (2.6%) without TBI developed dementia compared with 10 835 (6.1%) of those with TBI.”
“Results Of 7130 participants (2879 [40.4%] men; overall mean [SD] age, 79.9 [6.9] years), 865 reported a history of TBI with LOC.”
“Cases of traumatic brain injury with survivals ranging from 10 h to 47 years post injury (n = 52) and age-matched, uninjured control subjects (n = 44) were selected from the Glasgow Traumatic Brain Injury archive.”
What kind of evidence it is
By study design
| Design (as recorded) | Studies |
|---|---|
| Systematic review or meta-analysis | 14 |
| Randomised controlled trial | 5 |
| Other clinical trial | 1 |
| Cohort or longitudinal study | 35 |
| Case-control study | 11 |
| Cross-sectional study | 12 |
| Other recorded design | 3 |
| No design recorded | 303 |
The design is the one named in alzhub's record for the study; a record with none is counted as "no design recorded".
By year
| Year | Studies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 23 | |
| 2025 | 24 | |
| 2024 | 19 | |
| 2023 | 13 | |
| 2022 | 19 | |
| 2021 | 16 | |
| 2020 | 16 | |
| 2019 | 24 | |
| 2018 | 23 | |
| 2017 | 18 | |
| 2016 and earlier | 189 |
Other counts within the matched set
| Peer-reviewed articles | 372 |
| Marked open access in the record | 99 |
| Rated "high" evidence strength in alzhub's summary | 23 |
| Rated "moderate" evidence strength in alzhub's summary | 65 |
| Rated "low" evidence strength in alzhub's summary | 296 |
| Records stating a participant count | 94 |
| Median participants (those records) | 182 |
| Largest participant count | 1,686,759 |
Within the 384 matched studies
| Studies… | Count | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| …that mention chronic traumatic encephalopathy | 99 | the abstract also contains "chronic traumatic encephalopathy" or "CTE" |
| …in veterans or military populations | 26 | the abstract also contains "veteran" or "military" |
| …in athletes or sport | 51 | the abstract also contains "athlete", "sport", "football", "boxing" or "soccer" |
| …that report a hazard ratio | 13 | the abstract also contains "hazard ratio" or "HR" |
The 10 highest-scoring matched studies
Title matches first, then by alzhub's usefulness score, which rates a study's design, journal, evidence and recency, not whether its result is good news.
- Carotid Arterial Compliance and Aerobic Exercise Training in Chronic Traumatic Brain Injury: A Pilot Study
- Effects of Computerized Cognitive Training and Tai Chi on Cognitive Performance in Older Adults With Traumatic Brain Injury
- Dementia risk after traumatic brain injury vs nonbrain trauma: the role of age and severity
- Mild TBI and risk of Parkinson disease: A Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium Study
- Association of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury With and Without Loss of Consciousness With Dementia in US Military Veterans
- Association of Traumatic Brain Injury With Late-Life Neurodegenerative Conditions and Neuropathologic Findings
- Inflammation and white matter degeneration persist for years after a single traumatic brain injury
- Long Chain Omega-3 Fatty Acid Intervention in Ageing Adults at Risk of Dementia Following Repeated Head Trauma. Low-level Support or an Opportunity for an Unanswered Question?
- Repetitive Traumatic Brain Injury Among Older Adults
- Traumatic brain injury and risk of dementia in older veterans
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses in the set
14 of the matched records are recorded as a systematic review, meta-analysis or umbrella review; the highest-scoring not already listed above:
- Efficacy of non-invasive brain stimulation on cognitive functioning in brain disorders: a meta-analysis
- Potentially Modifiable Risk Factors for Dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment: An Umbrella Review and Meta-Analysis
- Evidence-based prevention of Alzheimer's disease: systematic review and meta-analysis of 243 observational prospective studies and 153 randomised controlled trials
- Development of the CogDrisk tool to assess risk factors for dementia
- Early-Life Risk Factors for Dementia and Cognitive Impairment in Later Life: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Newest matched studies
- Beyond Glycemic Control: The Pleiotropic Role of GLP-1RAs and Melatonin in Combating Neuroinflammation and Mitochondrial Dysfunction
- Retinal biomarkers and dementia risk: A review of evidence across the 14 Lancet modifiable risk factors for dementia
- Closed-head injury produces a delayed, region-specific defect in glucose-carbon routing at the pyruvate branchpoint in APP/PS1 KI mice
- Traumatic Brain Injury, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, and Alzheimer's Disease: Overlapping Phenotypes and Associations
- Effects of sex, treatment resistance, and antidepressant treatment on monoamine oxidase B total distribution volume
Journals with the most matched studies
| Journal | Studies |
|---|---|
| Neurology | 19 |
| Acta neuropathologica | 9 |
| Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology | 9 |
| Journal of neurotrauma | 9 |
| Nature reviews. Neurology | 9 |
Questions
- Does a concussion cause dementia?
- A single mild concussion raises risk a little in most cohort studies, if at all; moderate to severe injuries and repeated injuries raise it more. The quoted papers give the figures by severity and the length of follow-up behind them.
- How many studies on head injury and dementia does alzhub hold?
- 384 of the 29,780 study records in alzhub's library match the query "title or abstract mentions "head injury", "head trauma", "traumatic brain injury", "TBI", "concussion", "chronic traumatic encephalopathy" or "CTE""; 158 of them name it in the title. Counted from the records when this page was built.
- What kinds of study are they?
- 14 systematic review or meta-analysis, 5 randomised controlled trials, 1 other clinical trial, 35 cohort or longitudinal studys, 11 case-control studys, 12 cross-sectional studys; 303 record no design.
- What is the most recent study in the set?
- "Beyond Glycemic Control: The Pleiotropic Role of GLP-1RAs and Melatonin in Combating Neuroinflammation and Mitochondrial Dysfunction" (Preprints.org, 2026), the newest by publication date among the matched records.
- Which journals publish most on it?
- Neurology (19); Acta neuropathologica (9); Journal of neuropathology and experimental neurology (9), counted across the matched records.
Read on
- Safety at homePreventing falls, the commonest cause of head injury in older adults.
- Tau PET scansImaging the protein involved in CTE.
- Risk factors, rankedHead injury among the modifiable risks.