Dementia Risk Doubles for Vets Diagnosed With PTSD

(Sept. 2) -- A concrete link between post-traumatic stress disorder and dementia is quickly being established, as research published this week concludes that PTSD among war veterans doubles their risk of developing the age-related ailment.

Researchers at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Texas evaluated 10,481 veterans, all of them 65 and older, and found that those who'd been diagnosed with PTSD as a result of their combat experience were two times as likely to suffer from dementia as those who didn't suffer from post-traumatic stress, even if they too had encountered life-threatening scenarios during their military service.

The connection persisted even after controlling for other health issues, like hypertension and stroke, thought to be causally related to dementia.


"Confirmation of a causal link between PTSD and cognitive impairment in late life would have enormous global implications," reads an editorial by psychiatrist Dr. Soo Borson that accompanies the study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

And while troops are one key demographic implicated in PTSD, other situations -- including natural disasters and sexual assault -- can trigger the ailment.

"A rising societal burden of dementia, a shrinking workforce to sustain its economies and the difficulties of containing human violence" make the potential link a complex one, but of vital import for further study, Borson writes.

This is the second study in recent years to find a strong connection between the two conditions.