Poster | Poster Session 06 Program Schedule
02/15/2024
04:00 pm - 05:15 pm
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)
Poster Session 06: Aging | MCI | Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 2
Final Abstract #25
Lifetime Head Trauma Exposure as a Risk Factor for Frontotemporal Dementia Spectrum Diagnoses
Jessica Bove, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States Michael Alosco, Boston University, Boston, United States Jesse Mez, Boston University, Boston, United States Joel Kramer, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Gil Rabinovici, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, United States Russell Bauer, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States Breton Asken, University of Florida, Gainesville, United States
Category: Concussion/Mild TBI (Adult)
Keyword 1: concussion/ mild traumatic brain injury
Keyword 2: dementia - subcortical
Keyword 3: sports-related neuropsychology
Objective:
Repetitive head impacts (RHI), including traumatic brain injury (TBI) and participation in collision sports, are associated with increased dementia risk. Accurate RHI/TBI exposure estimates are relatively unknown for less common neurodegenerative conditions like frontotemporal dementia (FTD). We evaluated the association between lifetime RHI/TBI exposure and diagnosis of an FTD-spectrum disorder.
Participants and Methods:
We administered the Ohio State University TBI Identification and Boston University Head Impact Exposure Assessment to 108 participants with FTD (age 69.6 ± 10.3, 35% female, 94% white or unknown race) and 108 gender-matched healthy controls (“HC”; age 72.4 ± 7.8, 35% female, 86% white or unknown race) from the UCSF Memory and Aging Center. FTD spectrum diagnoses included behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (N=39), semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (N=16), nonfluent variant primary progressive aphasia (N=23), corticobasal syndrome (N=14), and progressive supranuclear palsy (N=16). We first describe frequency of any prior TBI with loss of consciousness or posttraumatic amnesia (LOC/PTA). TBI frequency was then compared between FTD and HC using chi-square. Next, we describe frequency of RHI through participation in collision sports including American football, soccer, ice hockey, and boxing along with cumulative number of years of exposure across these sports. Associations between RHI and clinical diagnosis were analyzed with chi-square (exposure to RHI) and Mann-Whitney U tests (duration of RHI exposure).
Results:
History of any TBI with LOC/PTA (FTD: 32.2%, HC: 36.7%), frequency of repeat (2+) TBIs (FTD: 12.2%, HC: 10.0%), and history of any RHI exposure (FTD: 36.1%, HC: 34.3%) did not differ between study groups (p’s>0.5). However, among those with a history of RHI through collision sport participation, total cumulative years of play was significantly greater in FTD (median=8.0yrs, IQR=3.25-12.75yrs) than HC (median=4.0yrs, IQR=2.0-7.25yrs; p<0.01). This effect appeared driven by years of American football participation (FTD: median=5.0yrs, IQR=2.5-8.0yrs; HC: median=2.0yrs, IQR=2.0-4.5yrs; p=0.03) and a trend towards more years of soccer participation (FTD: median=6.5yrs, IQR=4.5-16.75; HC: median=4.0yrs, IQR=2.0-7.0; p=0.08), though there were relatively few former soccer players in the sample.
Conclusions:
Patients with FTD and healthy older adults frequently experience head trauma during life, but the extent of exposure (e.g., duration of collision sport participation) may relate to risk for later-life diagnosis of FTD. Beyond asking about presence of prior head trauma, medical histories collected in clinical and research settings should include important details about the source and amount of exposure, particularly the cumulative years of collision sport participation.
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