Severe Head Injury May Raise Dementia Risk Years Later

A severe head injury, especially during middle age, could dramatically boost the risk for developing dementia later in life, new research from Finland suggests. The investigation tracked dementia risk among people who had suffered a traumatic brain injury [TBI] at 65 or younger. Ultimately, the lead researcher determined that not only did the risk go up for those who had a TBI, but the worse the initial head injury, the greater the risk of dementia. The study showed that 3.5 percent of persons with moderate-to-severe TBI were diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease later in life. This is substantially higher compared to age-matched peers with no history of brain injury. By comparison, only 1.6 percent of persons with mild TBI were diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease. The study authors pointed out that this research could only show an association; it could not prove a direct cause-and-effect link between traumatic brain injury and dementia. In addition, a traumatic brain injury was only linked to a higher risk for developing dementia, not to a higher risk for other neurological conditions, such as Parkinson's or ALS. The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) says that about 1.7 million Americans experience some form of traumatic brain injury each year, often resulting from a fall, a car accident or a firearm accident. Among moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury patients, roughly one in three ends up succumbing to their injury, the lead researcher noted. One in two survivors end up struggling with lifelong disabilities. The AANS pegs the number of Americans living with a TBI-induced disability at more than 5 million. The new study included more than 40,000 Finnish adults between 18 and 65 who had been hospitalized with mild, moderate or severe traumatic brain injuries. The injuries occurred between 1987 and 2014. The researchers followed the study participants for about 11 years. The roughly 20,000 mild TBI patients were hospitalized for less than a day. None had experienced a traumatic brain lesion such as brain bruising, swelling, bleeding or a blood clot. More than 20,000 moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury patients had been hospitalized for a minimum of three days. All had been diagnosed with some form of serious brain lesion. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of age, educational background or income. Though above-average dementia risk was seen among all TBI patients, the moderate-to-severe group faced a substantially higher risk than the mild group. The largest jump in risk was seen among those who had a traumatic brain injury between ages 41 and 50. Their odds of dementia were nearly triple those of someone with a mild injury. For those who had a TBI between ages 51 and 60, the odds of dementia were doubled, the study showed. More people in the moderate-to-severe group also ended up with dementia before the age of 65, compared to those in the mild group (40 percent versus 26 percent, respectively). Thus, until we have a specific treatment for this, it is extremely important to minimize other risk factors for dementia, such as high blood pressure, high levels of cholesterol, diabetes, tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption, the lead researcher added .

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Probiotic Supplements Failed to Prevent Babies' Infections

SOURCE: HealthDay News, July 2017

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New Hope in Search for Vaccine against Gonorrhea

A vaccine to protect people from the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea may be one step closer to reality, New Zealand researchers report. That's welcome news, because gonorrhea appears to be eluding treatment efforts to control the disease. Antibiotics are the only available treatment, but strains of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea have developed, according to U.S. health officials. Despite efforts, a gonorrhea vaccine with any clinical effect has eluded development for over 100 years, said by lead researcher. We have found a vaccine that prevented about one-third of gonorrhea in those who received it in a real-life situation. It is far from perfect, but it is a leap in the right direction. Called MeNZB vaccine, it was developed to control a meningitis epidemic in New Zealand from 2004 to 2006 and is no longer available. But the antigens in the vaccine thought to provide the immune response to gonorrhea are included in the more recently developed 4CMenB vaccine, which is available in many countries, the lead researcher added. The researchers found that people who had been vaccinated with the MeNZB vaccine were less likely to have gonorrhea than those who weren't. We followed up the observation that gonorrhea rates appeared to drop in association with the use of this type of meningococcal B vaccine and found that indeed the vaccine had a protective effect against gonorrhea for a period of time after its use. About one-third of those vaccinated were protected, lead researcher said. After taking into account factors such as race, sex, socioeconomics and geographical area, the researchers calculated that vaccination reduced the odds of getting gonorrhea by 31 percent. In the United States, teens and preteens, as well as some children and adults, are advised to get one of two meningococcal vaccines to protect against meningitis. Whether the current meningococcal vaccines would protect against gonorrhea still needs to be tested. Modeling has suggested that even a vaccine with quite a modest level of effectiveness could have a significant impact on gonorrhea over the period of fifteen years or so. If gonorrhea goes untreated or is treated late, it can have a long-term health impact," the lead researcher explained. Untreated, it can lead to complications such as pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy and infertility, and it can make the transmission of HIV more likely. Approximately 78 million new cases of gonorrhea are seen worldwide each year.

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