Traumatic brain injury and mortality in older adults with and without pre-injury dementia

Helen Lai, Eyal Soreq, Niall Bourke, Claire Baker, Karl Zimmerman, Megan E Parkinson, Sarah Daniels, Edward W. Gregg, David Sharp, Lucia M. Li

Age and Ageing, 2025

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is rising in older adults. Dementia is a common comorbidity and may worsen post-TBI outcomes, but its effects have not been studied. OBJECTIVE: To compare all-cause mortality following TBI or non-TBI trauma (NTT) and quantify the impacts of age, deprivation and dementia. DESIGN: Population-based retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Linked primary and secondary care electronic health records from the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage Databank. SUBJECTS: Adult residents in Wales aged 18-100 with hospitalised TBI or NTT recorded between January 2000 and December 2022. METHODS: Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate survival within 1, 6 and 12 months of hospitalised TBI/NTT in those with and without pre-injury dementia diagnosis. Groups were propensity-matched by age, sex and morbidities. Models were stratified by age, sex and deprivation. RESULTS: A total of 23 428 TBIs (n = 18 940) and 589 169 NTTs (n = 421 259) were identified. TBIs were associated with higher mortality than NTT at all timepoints. Older age was associated with higher mortality after TBI, with 16.9% 1-month mortality in patients aged 65-79, and…

Cite as (BibTeX)

@article{lai-2025-traumatic-brain-injury-and,
  title={Traumatic brain injury and mortality in older adults with and without pre-injury dementia},
  author={Helen Lai and Eyal Soreq and Niall Bourke and Claire Baker and Karl Zimmerman and Megan E Parkinson and Sarah Daniels and Edward W. Gregg and David Sharp and Lucia M. Li},
  journal={Age and Ageing},
  year={2025},
  doi={10.1093/ageing/afaf341}
}