Open AccessAccelerated age‐related cortical thinning in mild traumatic brain injury
Author(s) -
Santhanam Priya,
Wilson Steffanie H.,
Oakes Terrence R.,
Weaver Lindell K.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
brain and behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 41
ISSN - 2162-3279
DOI - 10.1002/brb3.1161
Subject(s) - traumatic brain injury , cortex (anatomy) , cerebral cortex , population , posterior parietal cortex , medicine , neuroscience , psychology , psychiatry , environmental health
Abstract Introduction Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) can result in many structural abnormalities in the cerebral cortex. While thinning of the cortex has been shown in mTBI patients, there is high regional variability in reported findings. High‐resolution imaging can elucidate otherwise unnoticed changes in cortical measures following injury. This study examined age‐related patterns of cortical thickness in U.S. active duty service members and veterans with a history of mTBI ( n = 66) as compared to a normative population ( n = 67). Methods Using a fully automated cortical parcellation methodology, cortical thickness measures were extracted from 31 bilateral cortical regions for all participants. Results The effect of diagnosis and age on cortical thickness (group × age interaction) was found to be significant ( p < 0.05) for many regions, including bilateral parietal and left frontal and temporal cortices. Findings held for a male‐only subset, and there was no effect of time since injury in any regions. Conclusions The presence of mTBI appeared to accelerate age‐related cortical thinning across the cortex in our study population.