New study into brain health after domestic violence

Professor Craig Ritchie’s PREVENT Dementia programme forms part of at new study, led by University of Glasgow, that will seek to understand the lifelong consequences of physical abuse on the brain.

The study will be overseen by Professor Willie Stewart (University of Glasgow), who published a study in 2019 indicating that former professional footballers, who experience repeated brain traumas, were more than 3 times more likely to die of dementia than the general population.

While there is growing awareness of the link between head trauma and increased risk of dementia, this new research programme, which is funded by The Drake Foundation, will examine the long-term outcomes of individuals exposed to domestic abuse, many of whom currently report a history of traumatic brain injury. The study will access datasets from the Prevent Dementia programme led by Professor Craig Ritchie.

Prof Ritchie said: "The programme always sought to understand the contribution of all risk factors for later life dementia and while it is now well known that head injury affects the risk of dementia, we also need to understand the source of that head injury to be able to work effectively to prevent and manage this effectively. This funding is so critical in bringing intimate partner violence out of the shadows in terms of dementia risk."