Health Care Happenings

Older veterans who suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are almost twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related dementias as veterans without PTSD…”

…So says a study funded by the Department of Defense and the National Institute on Aging—the first ever to link combat related PTSD to dementia in older veterans.

It’s not clear from the study findings if having PTSD increases the risk of dementia later in life or whether recurring PTSD is an early symptom of the condition in older veterans.

The study can’t say specifically that PTSD causes dementia as one of the researchers points out…

                …….       But if it does, one theory is that stress is to blame, states the  WebMD Health News article entitled,

Study Shows Veterans With PTSD More Likely to Develop Alzheimer’s Later In Life.”

There is evidence however that chronic stress can cause damage to the brain where critical memory and learning takes place.

Here are the basic facts from the study:

• Followed 180,000 older veterans, mostly male, over a 7-year period
  53,000 were diagnosed with PTSD
• None had dementia in late 2000, but by 2007, 17% had been diagnosed with degenerative memory and thinking disorder
• Veterans with PTSD had about an 11% risk of developing dementia during the 7-year period, unlike those without the stress disorder

The findings seem pretty interesting and a lot scary to me.

Would love to hear your reactions to the article.

…………………What’s your take? ……………………..