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Meta-Analysis
. 2018 Nov 5;18(1):184.
doi: 10.1186/s12883-018-1187-0.

Is traumatic brain injury a risk factor for neurodegeneration? A meta-analysis of population-based studies

Chi-Hsien Huang  1   2 , Chi-Wei Lin  1   2 , Yi-Che Lee  2   3 , Chih-Yuan Huang  4 , Ru-Yi Huang  1   2 , Yi-Cheng Tai  5 , Kuo-Wei Wang  2   6 , San-Nan Yang  2 , Yuan-Ting Sun  7 , Hao-Kuang Wang  8   9
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Is traumatic brain injury a risk factor for neurodegeneration? A meta-analysis of population-based studies

Chi-Hsien Huang et al. BMC Neurol. .

Abstract

Background: To determine the association of prior traumatic brain injury (TBI) with subsequent diagnosis of neurodegeneration disease.

Methods: All studies from 1980 to 2016 reporting TBI as a risk factor for diagnoses of interest were identified by searching PubMed, Embase, study references, and review articles. The data and study design were assessed by 2 investigators independently. A meta-analysis was performed by RevMan 5.3.

Results: There were 18 studies comprising 3,263,207 patients. Meta-analysis revealed a significant association of prior TBI with subsequent dementia. The pooled odds ratio (OR) for TBI on development of dementia, FTD and TDP-43 associated disease were 1.93 (95% CI 1.47-2.55, p < 0.001), 4.44 (95% CI 3.86-5.10, p < 0.001), and 2.97 (95% CI 1.35-6.53, p < 0.001). However, analyses of individual diagnoses found no evidence that the risk of Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease in individuals with previous TBI compared to those without TBI.

Conclusions: History of TBI is not associated with the development of subsequent neurodegeneration disease. Care must be taken in extrapolating from these results because no suitable criteria define post TBI neurodegenerative processes. Therefore, further research in this area is needed to confirm these questions and uncover the link between TBI and neurodegeneration disease.

Keywords: Dementia; Meta-analysis; Neurodegeneration; TBI.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was based in part on data from the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE®)/PubMed (US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed) database and Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE®, Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands; http://www.elsevier.com/solutions/embase-biomedical-research).

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors report no conflict of interest concerning the materials or methods used in this study or the findings specified in this paper.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Individual and pooled odds ratios for dementia
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Individual and pooled odds ratios for dementia with APOE
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Individual and pooled odds ratios for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Individual and pooled odds ratios for Parkinson’s Disease (PD)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Individual and pooled odds ratios for transactive response DNA-binding protein of 43 kDa (TDP-43)
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Individual and pooled odds ratios for frontotemporal dementia (FTD)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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