Traumatic Brain Injury and Risk of Incident Dementia: Forensic Applications of Current Research.

This article focuses on the role of forensic neuropsychologists in evaluating the association between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the risk of developing neurodegenerative disorders, particularly dementia, in legal contexts. It highlights that while moderate-to-severe TBI may modestly increase the risk of conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, the vast majority of individuals with TBI do not develop dementia, and the specific risk factors remain unclear. The evidence linking mild TBI (mTBI) to later dementia is mixed and limited by methodological challenges, including recall bias and reverse causation, with prevalence rates showing minimal clinical significance. The article also discusses chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) as a neuropathological condition detectable only post-mortem, noting that its clinical features and prevalence are not well understood and that it should not be diagnosed in living individuals. Overall, the article concludes that current scientific evidence does not support reliable individual-level predictions of dementia risk following TBI, emphasizing the need for forensic neuropsychologists to communicate these limitations in legal settings.