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. 2022:35:103039.
doi: 10.1016/j.nicl.2022.103039. Epub 2022 May 10.

Brain age in chronic traumatic brain injury

Gershon Spitz  1 , Amelia J Hicks  2 , Caroline Roberts  2 , Christopher C Rowe  3 , Jennie Ponsford  2
Affiliations

Brain age in chronic traumatic brain injury

Gershon Spitz et al. Neuroimage Clin. 2022.

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with greater 'brain age' that may be caused by atrophy in grey and white matter. Here, we investigated 'brain age' in a chronic TBI (≥10 years) sample. We examined whether 'brain age' increases with years post injury, and whether it is associated with injury severity, cognition and functional outcome. We recruited 102 participants with moderate to severe TBI aged between 40 and 85 years. TBI participants were assessed on average 22 years post-injury. Seventy-seven healthy controls were also recruited. Participants' 'brain age' was determined using T1-weighted MRI images. TBI participants were estimated to have greater 'brain age' compared to healthy controls. 'Brain age' gap was unrelated to time since injury or long-term functional outcome on the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended. Greater brain age was associated with greater injury severity measured by post traumatic amnesia duration and Glasgow Coma Scale. 'Brain age' was significantly and inversely associated with verbal memory, but unrelated to visual memory/ability and cognitive flexibility and processing speed. A longitudinal study is required to determine whether TBI leads to a 'one-off' change in 'brain age' or progressive ageing of the brain over time.

Keywords: Ageing; Brain age; Cognition; Functional outcome; Traumatic brain injury.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Brain age gap is greater in chronic TBI.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Brain age gap does not increase with time since injury.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Worse injury severity is associated with greater brain age gap.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Neuropsychological test dimensionality reduction using factor analysis.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Brain age gap and cognition in TBI.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Brain age gap and chronic disability.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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