Leveraging Existing Aging Research Networks to investigate Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and related dementia (ADRD) risk

People who serve in the military have specific risk of exposure to head injury or traumatic brain injury (TBI) in addition to the typical risks faced by all people. TBIs can be fatal or cause severe disability, but many people survive TBI and recover well. The goal of this study is to study the late life health associations of TBI and military service by using detailed data already available from a large-scale population-based longitudinal research study of veterans and civilians.  Dr. Mez and Colleagues will use extensive existing resources from the Framingham Heart Study, which includes access to a long-committed volunteer study sample, as well as health, lifestyle, genetic, cognitive, brain imaging and brain autopsy data. We will also collect new self-report TBI and military service data using methods recommended by the National Institutes of Health. This study will comprehensively characterize the role of TBI and military service on a wide array of AD/ADRD outcomes, as well as identify factors that may modify these relationships.